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NOTES 



ON 



COLONIAL NORTH CAROLINA 

1700-1750 

i 



By }.' BRYAN GRIMES 

1905 



NOTES 



ON 



COLONIAL NORTH CAROLINA 
1700-1750 



WRITTEN FOR 

THE NORTH CAROLINA BOOKLET 

By J. BRYAN GRIMES 



C-icKn "^'yuctK] 



REPRINTED BY 

THE NORTH CAROLINA HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION 

OCTOBER, 1905 



f^^"? 



o 



^iqD^ 



Tliis article first appeared in the North Carolina Booklet 
and, as it contains valuable historical information, -which 
has not been heretofore published and is not easily accessible 
to the people of the State, it is deemed advisable by the His- 
torical Commission to publish it in separate form for distri- 
bution, especially to libraries and students of iSTorth Carolina 

history. 

W. J. Peele, 

Cltairmau N. C. j 
()ct<)l>er .".. 1005. . 



Chairman N. C. Historical Cowniisaiou. 




^\'\& 



^ 



Q 



''Some jSTotes on Colonial I>[ortli Carolina, 1700-1750" 
Avas Avritten at the request of the editors of the Xorth Caro- 
lina Booklet and is a hastily prepared sketch of certain phases 
of the life of our people in that period of our history which 
i- least known and most misrepresented. 

Space wonld not admit of an article of sufficient length to 
give a satisfactory or comprehensive view of Colonial con- 
ditions in Eastern Xorth Carolina, bnt enough is written, 
sustained l)y the record, to s1ioa\^ that our painters haxe 
clduded rather tlian illumiued the canvas in making the 
])i('riire of the early Carolinian. From notes and material 
:i1 liand it is possible that later a better considered and more 
extended sketch of Colonial North Carolina will be written. 

J. Bryan Grimes. 

October 5, 1905. 



o 



REFERENCES WITH ABBREVIATIONS. 



Hawks" History of North Carolina Hawlcs 

BrickelTs Natural History of North Carolina, 

(Edition of 1735), Brickell 

Lawson"s History of Carolina (Edition of 1709), .... Lawson 

Martin's History of North Carolina, Martin 

Colonial Records of North Carolina, C. R. 

Saunders' Prefatory Notes to Colonial Records 

of North Carolina, S. I*. X. 

Bancroft's History of the United States. 

(Edition of 185G), Ban. 

Statutes at Large of Great Britain (Edition of 17G3), . . 
CaiTolI's Historical Collections of South Carolina, . . . Carr. Coll. 
Chalmers' Introduction to the History of the 

Revolt of the American Colonies Chalmers 

Holmes' Annals of America, Holmes' Annals 

Lossings' Field Book of the Revolution (Edition of 1852), . Lossing 

Laws of North Carolina, Record of Grants, Original Papers, Wills. 
Inventories, Maps, etc., in the Secretary of State's Office. 



NOTES ON COLONIAL NORTH CAROLINA 

1700^1750. 



By J. BRYAN GRIMES. 



In writing of Colonial Xorth Carolina I can not do a bet- 
ter service than to present bare facts with sources of infor- 
mation rather than give an expression of my views and con- 
clusions as to social conditions in our province before 1750. 
Before the middle of the eighteenth century we had no press 
and the world heard of us only from the print of the out- 
sider w^ho, from jealousy, ignorance or prejudice, did not do 
us justice. Havirig no historian of our own in Colonial times, 
our writers have relied as an authority upon Chalmers, whose 
every chapter w^as a continued vituperation or misrepresenta- 
tion of our State. George Chalmers was born in Scotland, 
in 174-2, and "emigrated to Maryland where he practiced 
law for ten years, till the troubles of the Revolution began, 
and then he returned to England." He was a bitter loyalist 
who had no patience wdth the spirit of American indepen- 
dence. The first of his historical works was published in 
1781 during the Revolutionary War. 

Of our history Col. Saunders says : "The first search 
made in London for information in regard to Xorth Caro- 
lina affairs was doubtless that made by the historian George 
Chalmers, who, in 1780, published his Political Annals of 
the Present United Colonies, the fruit of his labors in the 
British Record Office to which the official position he held 
ga^'e him access. This volume has been the standard au- 
thority with all later Carolina historians. Its general ac- 
curacy as to matters of fact is by no means perfect, and Mr. 



6 XoTEs ON Colonial Xoktii Carolina 1700-1750. 

Chalmers' bitter iDrejudices as a loyalist render his conclu- 
sions utterly unreliable. 

At a later date the historian Williamson, who desired 
3opies of certain papers in London relating to Carolina, 
hoped that Mr. Chalmers would furnish him therewith or 
assist him in obtaining them. Mr. Chalmers would do 
neither and threatened to interfere if application should 
be made to the head of the proper department." 

Let us glance at some of the writings of this ''standard 
authority with all later Xorth Carolina historians" and com- 
pare them with the pages of Bancroft. 

Of this colony just before the Culpeper rebellion Chalmers 
says: 

"Originally a sprout from Virginia, the unprosperous 
plantation of l^orth Carolina naturally produced the same 
unpleasant fruits, during that boisterous season. Alteration 
of system, no less than change of governors had long pre- 
vented the revolt of a colony, which, in 1675, contained only 
four thousand inhabitants, who derived, unhappily, no bene- 
fit from the coercion of laws or the influences of religion." a 

Of this same period Bancroft says : 

"The government had for about a year been left in what 
Royalists called '111 order and worse hands.' That is, it had 
been a government of the people themselves, favoring popular 
liberty, even to the protection of the friends of Colonial In- 
dependence." h 

Chalmers writes again : 

"N^orth Carolina enjoyed unusual quiet for some time 
after the expulsion of Sothell, because continued anarchy 
often prompts a desire for fixed repose. * -^^ * The 
most inconsiderable community of ISTorth Carolina has never 
relinquished the flattering gratifications of self-rule, even 
when they were inconvenient. Having refused to join in 



a dial., p. 1G6. 
&Ban., Vol. 2, p. 157. 



XoTEs ON Colonial Xoeth Carolina 1700-1750. 7 

legislation with their Southern neighbors, the inhabitants 
were delivered over to their discontents ; having denied sub- 
mission to the Deputy-Governor sent them from Charleston, 
the proprietaries seem in despair to have relinquished them 
to their own management, in 1695, without inquiring for 
seven years after, whether they prospered or declined." a 

In contrast to the above Bancroft w^rites : 

'"Here was a double grief to the proprietaries ; the 
rapacity of Sothell w^as a breach of trust; the judgment 
of the Assembly an ominous usurpation. * * * Xhe 
planters of North Carolina recovered tranquility so soon as 
they escaped the misrule from abroad, and sure of am- 
nesty, esteemed themselves the happiest people on earth. 
They loved the pure air and clear skies of their 'summer 
land.'" * * * 

"The planters of Albemarle were men who had been led 
to the choice of their residence from a hatred of restraint, 
and had lost themselves among the woods in search of inde- 
pendence. Are there any who doubt man's capacity for self- 
government, let them study the history of ISTorth Carolina ; 
its inhabitants were restless and turbulent in their imperfect 
submission to a government imposed on them from abroad ; 
the administration of the colony was firm, humane and tran- 
quil when they were left to take care of themselves. Any 
government, but one of their own institution, was oppres- 
sive. * * * IsTorth Carolina was settled by the freest 
of the free ; by men to whom the restraints of other colonies 
were too severe. But the settlers were gentle in their temp- 
ers, of serene minds, enemies to violence and blood-shed. 
* * * Freedom, entire freedom, was enjoyed without 
anxiety as without guarantees; the charities of life were scat- 
tered at their feet, like the flowers in their meadows ; and 
the spirit of humanity maintained its influence in the Ar- 



ff Chalmers, pp. 264, 399. 



8 XoTES ON Colonial ISTorth C^ieolina 1700-1750. 

cadia, as loyalist writers will have it, of 'rogues and rebels' 
m the paradise of Quakers." a 

After a half page of sneers at E^orth Carolina to cover a 
period of her liistorj, he, Chalmers, ends a chapter thus: 

"And this wretched province was continually branded as 
the general receptacle of the fugitive, the smuggler and the 
pirate ; as a community, destitute of religion to meliorate the 
heart, or of laws to direct the purpose of the will, * * * 
In ISTorth Carolina disorder is said to have continued its 
natural progress from the epoch of its settlement to the ac- 
cession of George the Second. Destitute of the kindly in- 
fluences of religion and of law, the planters acquired peculiar 
habits from acting a singular part amidst perpetual tumult. 
* ■" * Owing to his usual inattention, the Duke of IsTew- 
castle sent Burrington, a man still more weak and corrupt, 
and intemperate than his predecessor to rule such a people 
during such a season. * * * In April, 1733, Johnston, 
a domestic of Lord Wilmington, was appointed his succes- 
sor, a man of sufficient knowledge and prudence, but whose 
experience degenerated a little into cunning. ^ * * 
And during the year 1749 Xorth Carolina was found to 'be 
a little better than an asylum for fugitives since it was desti- 
tute of any regular government.' Such are the unpleasant 
incidents which occupy the story of an inconsiderable set- 
tlement, that gradually filled with people as the law offered 
protection to the vagabond, as every one lived without con- 
trol, and all enjoyed in security what a trivial labor had 
gained." h 

While the ISToi'th Carolina patriots were blazing the way 
for American independence, and a year or two before their 
armed resistance to Great Britain, this man Chalmers, who 
for a century was accepted as authority on our Colonial his- 
tory, dismisses us from history in these words : 

"The story of this tumultous settlement is from this period 

filled with nothing but the play of parties, the wailings of 

imbecility and the complaint of recrimination." c 

rrr.nn.. Vol. 2, pp. 15S. 104, 1fi.5. 

7;rh;ilniers. Vol. 2. pp. 81, 103, 104, 105 and 107. 

rCliMl.. Vol. 2. p. .SOI. 



XoTEs o^' CoLoxiAi. XoRTii Caeolixa 1700-1750. y 

In the earliest time of our colonization, because we gave 
protection to the defeated patriot followers of Bacon, Gov. 
Berkeley in his murderous wrath slandered and maligned us. 

In the settlement of our northern boundary line, because 

we could not be outwitted or cajoled, Col. Byrd ridiculed us, 

and the peoj^le who were esteemed as Virginians, when they 

were found to reside on the south of the boundary line, were 

aspersed as JSTorth Carolinians. 

When Xorth Carolina spent her blood and treasure in the 
defence of other colonies especially Virginia, in the war 
against the French and Indians on the Ohio, Sparks, writing 
of the Commander-in-Chief, James Innes, and his Carolin- 
ians, gravely and seriously remarks: "But, aside from the 
incompetency of this officer, he was an inhabitant of Korth 
Carolina, and, as such, unacceptable to the Virginia troops" a 

''111 fares it with a State whose history is written by others 
than her own sons !" 

For a century and a half no native Carolinian attempted 
to tell the story of his people — we had neither pen nor type 
to speak for us. Printing was introduced into Kortli Caro- 
lina by James Davis in 1749. Previous to that, time our 
printing was done in London, in Virginia and at Charleston. 

The first newspaper we had was in 176-4 — The ISTorth Car- 
olina Magazine and Universal Intelligencer, published by 
James Davis, "on a demi-sheet in quarto pages, but it was 

a The Writings of Wasliington, Vol. 2. p. 2G2 note. 

* Note.— Col. Byrd, in spite of his ridicule of our peojile, seemed to 
think well of our soil and climate, as he wrote Gov. Burrington in 
1731 : "It must he owned North Carolina is a very happy country 
where people mav live with the least labor that they can in any part 
of the world." C. R., Vol. .3. p. 104. 

In 17.33 he secured twenty thousand acres of land in North Caro- 
lina on the Virginia line of which he writes as "the Land of Eden." 
Gen. Jas. D. Glenn and Hon. R. B. Glenn now own three thousand 
acres of this same ti'act — Gov. Glenn informs me that a beech tree, 
one of the original corners of the Byrd survey is still standing with 
the initials of Col. Byrd cut thereon. This tree is one of the corners 
of the Glenn estate, and is now fenced and carefully protected from 
depredations. 



10 XoTEs ON Colonial jS^okth Cakolina 1700-1750. 

filled with long extracts from the works of theological writers, 
or selections from British magazines." a 

Our first newspaper controversy of which I find record was 
in 1732, when Gov. George Biirriugton published a procla- 
mation in Timothy's Southern Gazette in regard to our 
southern boundary line, and Gov. Johnston replied with a 
counter proclamation, setting forth South Carolina's claim 
in the same issue." h 

''The second newspaper in North Carolina was called the 
North Carolina Gazette and Weekly Post Boy. It was 
printed at Wilmington, by Andrew Stewart, a Scotchman, 
and contained intelligence of current events. The first num- 
ber was published in September, 1764. The Cape Fear Mer- 
cury was established by Adam Boyd in October, 1767. Boyd 
was a zealous patriot, and was an active member of the Com- 
mittee of Safety of Wilmington." c 

In the space of an article of this nature it will be impos- 
sible to attempt a portrayal of conditions in ISTorth Carolina 
in the colonial period, so I will give some notes on North 
Carolina before the middle of the eighteenth century, when, 
with the fall of the fortunes of the house of Stuart, that great 
immigration set in that brought many thousands of Scot- 
land's best people to us. This immigration made North 
Carolina second in growth and development to no province 



a Los8ing. 

h SiUUHlevs, P. N., Vol. 5, 36 ; C. R., Vol. 5, 373. 

c Lossing. 

* Note. — The first newspaper in America was at Boston in 1704 
called the Boston News-Letter, a weekly gazette by Bartholomew 
Green; Holmes' Annals, Vol. t, p. 400, and until 1719 this wns the 
only paper printed in the British North American Colonies. Printing 
was first introduced into Virginia by William Parks in 1720. Holmes' 
Annals, Vol. 1, p. 530. The first paper published in Virginia was 
issued "at Williamsburg in 17.30. a sheet about twelve inches by six 
in size. It was printed weekly by William Parks, at fifteen shillings 
per annum. No other paper was published in Virginia until the 
Stamp Act excitement in 170.5-0." Lossing. A printing house was 
opened in Charleston by Eleazer Phillips, in 17.30, who died the fol- 
lowing yeai'. Thomas Whitemarsh arrived soon after with a press 
and began the publication of a newspaper, the first printed in the 
Carolinas. Holmes' Annals. 



XoTES OX Colonial Xortil Carolina 1700-1750. 11 

in America. It is iinfortimate that we had no contemporary 
chronicler to draw a true picture of the social and industrial 
conditions of those times — the home-life of our people. 

The absence of cities, Avhicli are usually the literary cen- 
ters, and want of known depositories where records could be 
collected and preserved, has permitted the destruction of 
most of the literature, papers and personal correspondence 
of our early colonial times. This absence is accounted for 
by an historian as follows : 

"i^or are the to^\^is of any considerable note. This last 
circumstance is owing to the vast commodiousness of water 
carriage, which every^vhere presents itself to the plantations 
of private planters, and scarcity of handicraft." a 

Such papers and records as have been preserved throw 
more light upon the public and political questions of the day 
than upon the personal, social and industrial life of the early 
Carolinian. Probably the richest sources from which to 
gather information of the social life of that .day are the 
wills and inventories filed in the office of the Secretary of 
State. This is a field of exploration that will yet bring out 
much truth and make a fair presentation of our social con- 
ditions of which we will not be ashamed. ISTorth Carolina 
authors have relied for the picture of the home-life of our 
people largely upon the writers in other colonies, who have 
denied us justice, and in some cases seemed to feel it neces- 
sary to bolster the glories of their own colonies by disparag- 
ing N^orth Carolina and making comparison therewith. 

I do not intend to exaggerate the virtues and excellencies 
of our colonists, but will try to give a brief view of our 
province, relying on the cotemporary records, and wherever 
possible, quote the words of the writers which paint her 
just as she was, "warts and all." 

It is admitted that the physical conditions of a country 
largely determine the character, industry and habits of its 

a Holmes' Annals, Vol. 2, p. 117. 



i-2 XoTEs ().\ Colonial Xorth Carolina 1700-1750. 

people. Under the second charter of Charles II, Carolina 
embraced over a million square miles. It included all the 
land on the American Continent between 29 and 36 degrees 
30 minutes Xorth latitude. The northern boundary line be- 
came the line of the famous Missouri Compromise. After 
the separation of iSTorth Carolina and South Carolina, the 
northern colony was confined to the territory between 34 
degrees and 36.30 ^N". latitude. This is the choicest belt of 
the temperate zone. The greatest nations of the earth have 
been the product of this latitude. In this paper we will have 
reference only to that part of ISTorth Carolina lying on the 
seaboard and watered by the Chowan, Roanoke, Pamlico, 
Xeuse and Cape Tear rivers, being the only part that was 
settled during the period under consideration. The coastal 
plain region of ISTorth Carolina lies in "the same parallel of 
latitude as the central Mediterranean basin, that climatically 
most favored region of the globe." a 

Dr. Emmons says "middle and Eastern ISTorth Carolina cor- 
respond to middle and Southern France, and Western ISTorth 
Carolina to N^orthern France and Belgium — all the climates 
of Italy from Palermo to Milan and Venice are represented." 

The soil of Eastern I^orth Carolina in variety and fer- 
tility is unsurpassed, ranging from the black or sandy loam 
to the most retentive clays — our rich swamp soils show "a 
greater capacity for endurance than the prairie soils of Illi- 
nois." h 

For agricultural and stock-raising advantages, the climatic 
and soil conditions in tide-water IvTorth Carolina are un- 
equalled. With a mean temperature of 61 degrees Fahren- 
heit, and a precipitation of 55 inches, everything can be 
raised that can be grown in the ISTorth temperate zone. So 
varied are her agricultural products that l^orth Carolina is 
the onlv State that fills everv divisional column of the cen- 



North Carolina and its Resources 
7) Dr. Emmons. 



XoTES ON Colonial Xokth Carolina 1700-1750. 13 

sus reports. One viewing the State with a critic's eye must 
exclaim with Hon. W. D. Kelly, of Pennsylvania, "uSTortli 
Carolina is the fairest portion of God's earth on which my 
feet have ever rested." a 

In Barlowe's account of his first voyage to K^orth Carolina 
he says : ''The soil is the most plentiful, sweet, fruitful and 
wholesome of all the world." 

Robert Ilorne, writing in 1664 of the Cape Fear Country, 
says : h 

"Is there therefore any younger brother who is born of 
gentle blood and whose spirit is elevated above the common 
sort, and yet the hard usage of our country hath not allowed 
a suitable fortune ? He will not surely be afraid to leave 
his native soil to advance his fortunes equal to his blood and 
spirit, and so he will avoid those unlawful ways too many 
of our young gentlemen take to maintain themselves accord- 
ing to their high education, having but small estates ; here, 
with a few servants and a small stock, a great estate may be 
raised, although his birth has not entitled him to any of the 
land of his ancestors, yet his industry may supply him so 
as to make him the head of as famous a family. Such as 
are here tormented with much care how to gain a comfort- 
able livelihood, or that with their labor can hardly get a 
suitable subsistence, shall do Avell to go to this place, where 
any man whatever, that is but willing to take moderate pains, 
may be assured of a most comfortable subsistence, and be in 
a way to raise his fortunes far beyond what he could ever 
hope for in England. Let no man be troubled at the thought 
of being a servant four or five years, for I can assure you 
that many men give money with their children to serve seven 
years, to take more pains and fare nothing so well as the 
servants on this plantation will do. Then it is to be con- 
sidered that so soon as he is out of his time he has land and 



a North Carolina and its Resources. 
h Hawivs, Vol. 2. p. 41. 



14 jS'otes on Colonial Xoeth C.veolina 1700-1750. 

tools, and clothes given him, and is in a way of advance- 
ment. Therefore all artificers — as carpenters, wheelwrights, 
joiners, coopers, bricklayers, smiths, or diligent husbandmen 
and laborers, that are willing to advance their fortunes, and 
live in a most pleasant, healthful and fruitful country, where 
artificers are of high esteem, and used with all civility and 
courtesy imaginable may take notice." 

Lawson tells us that in 1700 an extensive traveller assured 
him that Carolina was the best country he could go to. 

In writing of I^^orth Carolina Lawson says : 

"A second Settlement of this Country was made about fifty 
Years ago, in that part we now call Albemarl-Country, and 
chiefly in Chuwon Precinct, by several substantial Planters 
from Virginia and other Plantations ; Who, finding mild 
Winters and fertile Soil beyond Expectation, producing every- 
thing that was planted to a prodigious Increase; their Cattle, 
Horses, Sheep and Swine, breeding very fast, and passing the 
Winters without any Assistance from the Planter ; so that 
everything seemed to come by Nature, the Husbandman liv- 
ing almost void of Care, and free from those fatigues which 
are absolutely requisite in Winter-Countries. * * * 
Xevertheless, I say, the Fame of this new-discovered summer 
country spread thro' the neighboring Colonies, and, in a few 
Years, drew a considerable ISTumber of Families thereto, who 
all found Land enough to settle themselves in (had there 
been many Thousand more), and that which was very good 
and commodiously seated, both for Profit and Pleasure. And, 
indeed, most of the Plantations in Carolina, naturally enjoy 
a noble Prospect of large and spacious Rivers, pleasant 
Savannas and fine meadows." * * * 

"The Planters possessing all these Blessings and the Pro- 
duce of great Quantities of W^heat and Indian Corn, in which 
this Country is very fruitful as likewise in Beef, Pork, Tal- 
low, Hides, Deer-Skins and Furs; For these Commodities the 
Xew-England-J\[en and Bermudians visited Carolina in their 



XoTES ojN" Colonial jSToktii Cakolixa 1700-1750. 15 

iiarks and Sloops, and carry'd out what they made, bringing 
them in Exchange Rum, Sugar, Salt, Molasses and some 
wearing Aj)parel, tho' the last at very extravagant prices." 
* * * ''The inhabitants of Carolina, thro' the richness 
of the Soil live an easy and pleasant life. * * "" The 
country in general affords pleasant Seats, the Land (except in 
some few places) being dry and high banks, parcell'd out 
into most convenient ]S[ecks (by the Creeks), easy to be 
fenced in for securing their Stocks to more strict Boun- 
daries whereby, with a small trouble of fencing, almost every 
Man may enjoy, to himself, an entire Plantation, or rather 
Park." * * * "j^Q the land is very fruitful, so are the 
Planters hospitable to all that come to visit them ; there being 
very few housekeepers but what live very nobly and give 
away more Provisions to Coasters and Guests who come 
to see them, than they expend among their o^^^l Families." a 

''Carolina was settled' under the auspices of the wealthiest 
and most influential nobility, and its fundamental laws were 
framed with forethought by the most sagacious politician 
and the most profound philosopher of England." Later, 
"the colonists repudiated the Constitutions of Carolina," 
adopting only those parts most suited to their needs, h 

The early settlers of ISTorth Carolina were English, from 
Virginia, ISTew England and Old England and Barbadoes ; 
French Huguenots and German Palatines. The English set- 
tled in Albemarle and Bath counties ; the French on Pamlico, 
jSTeuse and Trent Rivers in Bath, and the Germans on ISTeuse 
and Trent. The Barbadians who first settled at Cape Fear did 
not follow Yeamans to South Carolina. They went up to the 
Albemarle settlement and to ISTansemond County, in Virginia, 
in part, and in part to Boston. In this fact is to be found an 
easy explanation of the increase at this time in Albemarle 
both from ]^ew England and from Barbadoes. c 



a Lawson, pp. 63, 64. 

7j Bancroft, Vol. 2, p. 128. 

cS. P. N., Vol. 1, p. 10. 



10 XOTKS 0.\ C'OLOMAL XoKTH CaUOLIA'A iTOO-lToO. 

Those iu jS'ew England kept up their relations with 
their kinsmen in North Carolina. The Isew Eng- 
land skipper and trader practically controlled the com- 
merce of this province by exchanging their manufactures 
for our produce. There was increasing immigration from 
New England to North Carolina which continued until the 
Civil War of 1861. 

In 1700 t]iere Avere only about five thousand people in the 
province — at the beginning of the Tuscarora War there w^ere 
ten or eleven thousand inhabitants. Bath County was the 
seat of this war. This county embraced Pampticough, Wick- 
ham and Archdale precincts, and extended into the wilder- 
ness on the South and West. Pampticough and Wickham 
precincts covered the territory between the Roanoke and 
Pamlico Rivers. Archdale precinct claimed the land between 
Pamlico and Neuse rivers, and also the Neuse settlements 
on both sides Neuse River, a These precincts are now Beau- 
fort, Hyde and Craven Counties. 

At the time of the Tuscarora war the Avhite settlers were 
fringed along the coast and the Indians occupied all other 
lands. Chocowinity was the frontier, and tradition says that 
on the morning of the Indian massacre John Porter's house 
at Chocowinity was the first to be fired. On the Roanoke 
were the forts of the Cheeweo and Resootska. On the Tar 
near the present to-^ATi of Washington, was Nakay — there was 
also a fort just about two miles above Bear Creek, on what 
is still known as Indian Fort branch on Grimesland planta- 
tion. * 



« C. R. Vol. 1. p. 620. 

* Note. — A field of about ten acres cleared by the Indians on Indian 
Fort Branch in the west corner of a seventy -five-acre field (Pridgen 
cut) is still in cultivation. 



^OTES OX COLOXIAL ^ORTH CaEOLINA 1700-1750. 17 

Further up the Tar about two or three miles below the 
present town of Greenville was King Blount's town, Uco- 
lineruut. On the Contentnea were Conneghta, Tahunta and 
Hookerooka Forts and Hancock's town. a. To the South 
and West was the unknown wilderness and the Indian towns 
of Keeouwee (old town) Totero Fort, Uharee, Acconee- 
chv, etc. * 

After the war most of the Tuscaroras went to their kin- 
dred in Xew York. King Blount and his people were given 
a reservation between Tar and JSTeuse River, but were soon 
moved at his own request to lands on Roanoke River where 
fifty-three thousand (5r3,000) acres were given them in Ber- 
tie County, and a fort was built for their defence from 
enemy Indians, h Here they lived under their Kings, Tom 
Blount and his son, James Blount, many years. They were 
afterw'ards joined by the Supponees and the Chowans. c 



a See map Eman. Bowea. 

h C. R., Vol. 2, pp. 283, 484, 496. 

c C R., Vol. 3, p. 538. 

* Note. — In the preliminary articles of peace signed November 
25tb, 1712, between Major General Thomas Pollock for the colonists 
and Tom Blount, Saroonba, Hounthanobnoh, Chaunthorunthoo, Ne- 
woonttootsery and Herunttocken for a number of Indian towns, it 
was agreed among other things : "Imprimis, The afsd great men 
Doe hereby Covenant & agree to & with ye said presidt & Councill 
that they shall and will, with ye utmost expedition & Dilligence, 
make Warr agt. all ye Indyans belonging to ye Townes or Nations 
of Catechny, Cores, Nuse & Bare River and pamptico. and that they 
shall not nor will not give any Quarter to any male Indyan of those 
Towns or Nations above ye Age of fourteen yeares, and also that 
they shall & will sell off & dispose of all ye males under that age. 
And that further, after they shall have destroy'd those townes or 
soe soone as this Governm't shall think proper to require it the said 
great men doe hereby promise to Join ye English with Soe menny Men 
as may be thought proper to destroy & cutt off all ye Matchepungo 
Indyans. * * * 

4thly. — It is hereby farther Agreed by ye Great Men af-sd that 
these Severall Townes of Tostehant, Rauroota, Tarhuntah, Keutah, 
Toherooka, Juninits & Caunookehee, nor any of ye Indyans belonging 
to them or either of them, shall not nor will not Hunt nor rainge 
among ye English plantations nor Stocks without leave, nor then 
above ye number of three at one tyme. neither shall they Claime any 
property in ye lands on ye South Side of Nuse called Chatookae 
River, nor below Catachney Creek on Nuse, nor below Bare Creek 
ate not-sha-hun-han-rough on ye Noth (south) side of pamptico 
river." See original treaty framed in State Hall of History. 



18 XoTEs OK CoLo:s'iAL XoRTii Cakolixa 1700-1750. 

These Indians also removed to jSTew York, but they held 
their lands on the Koanoke and collected rents for them well 
on into the nineteenth century, a 

The Indians remaining in the province about 1730, through 
their Chiefs, King Tom Blount, of the Tuscaroras; King 
Hoyter, of the Chowans, and King Durant, of the Yawpims, 
paid a yearly tribute to the Governor. 6 

The Tuscarora war and the hardships following caused 
many people to leave the province, but this war was a bless- 
ing in disguise. As soon as the Indian troubles were finally 
disposed of, settlers sought the desirable lands higher up on 
the Roanoke, Tar and l^euse Rivers and their tributaries. 
In a few years settlements were begun on the Cape Fear. 
In the war we were aided by South Carolina and some of 
her leading citizens were so favorably impressed with our 
country that many of them and their friends soon moved 
here. 

From a population of eleven thousand two hundred (seven 
thousand five hundred white, three thousand seven hundred 
negro) in 1715 c just after the Indian war the 
province of N^orth Carolina had grown to thirty-six thousand, 
in 1730 at the end of the Proprietary period. From that 
time until the Revolution probably no province in America 
grew faster in Avealth and population. In 1752 our popula- 
tion was ninety thousand d, seventy thousand white, twenty 
thousand negro, having been tripled in twenty years. 

The Indian captives, more than six hundred, taken by 
Cols. Barnwell and Moore and their soldiers and ally In- 
dians, were sent to South Carolina as slaves. Those taken 
by our people were sold into slavery in the West Indies or 
kept in bondage here. An Indian slave was valued at about 
£10, and was generally sold away from home. ITegroes 



aC. R.. Vol. 7, p. 248. 
6C. R., Vol. 4, pp. 34, 446. 
c Chalmers. 
a S. P. N.. Vol. 4. 22. 



XoTES 02s Colonial Xorth Caeolina 1700-1750. 19 

commanded higher prices as they were more docile and ca- 
pable of greater labor. 

In the Indian war our ally Indians were offered "a reward 
of six blankets for the head of each man of the said Indians 
killed by the (friendly) Tuscaroras, and the usual price of 
slaves for each woman and child delivered captives." a 
The white people after capturing Indians sometimes 
indulged in barbarities, as DeGraffenreid gives us an account 
of the roasting of an Indian King in 1711. b 

Even as late as 1760 a law was passed making Indian 
captives slaves and "the absolute right and property of who 
shall be the captor of such Indian," and ten pounds was 
given for an Indan scalp taken by a citizen, and five pounds 
was given for a scalp captured by a solider. To some of 
our people it seemed profitable for the Indians to raise dis- 
turbances, but this province was never directly charged with 
inciting them to war for sinister purposes. Of one of 
our neighbors an historian says : "This province long con- 
tinued 'that barbarous practice' which was then introduced 
(1680) of promoting Indian hostility that they might gain 
by the traffic of Indian slaves." c 

"The moving causes of immigration to Albemarle were its 
delightful climate, magnificent bottom lands and bountiful 
products." d 

Land-holding gave dignity and importance. The large 
land-holders, then as now, wielded great influence in their 
commimities. They were the aristocracy of the country and 
the governing classes ; their sons inheriting prestige and 
leadership with their estates. 

Many of the early settlers came from other colonies for 
the rich lands along our river bottoms, which were found to 
be cheap, fertile and abundant. These "river plantations" 



oC. R., Vol. ], p. 15. 
bC. R., Vol. 1. p. 946. 
c Chalmers, Vol. 2, p. 172. 

d Siinnrlprs 



d Saunders 



20 XoTEs ON Colonial ISTorth Carolina 1700-1750. 

of Xorth Carolina and the South were to become famous all 
over the world. Land could be easily secured. A planter 
starting life with modest beginnings would, by the productive- 
ness of this soil and the natural fruitfulness of his slaves, 
horses, cattle and hogs, die rich in old age. 

Brickell, who for awhile lived at Edenton, writing about 
1735 says the Albemarle Country was settled by ''Persons 
from Virginia and other I^orthern Colonies who, finding the 
Soil so very good and fertile, settled here, and are become 
very IS[unierous and Rich; for the lands here produce every- 
thing Planted in them in great abundance. Horses, Cows, 
Sheep and Swine breeding in vast numbers, the winter being 
very short, and that so mild that the Planters are at little or 
no Labour or Expense in providing Eodder for their Stock 
to what other jSTortherly Countries are." a 

Among the planters were gentry who lived as much like 
their relations in England and Scotland as conditions in a 
sparsely settled country would admit. Some of the early 
planters came here in official positions as deputies of the 
Lords Proprietors, bringing with them their friends, retain- 
ers and tenants. With the various governors came their 
kinsmen, supporters and adherents. An examination of the 
wills in the office of the Secretary of State Avill show from 
the signatures with seals bearing imprinted theron crests 
and coats of arms of signers, that many of the leading men 
of Carolina belonged to the gentry of England and Scot- 
land. Many of them were highly educated and classical 
scholars of great learning. The drafts of old laws, state 
papers, wills and letters of that day will, in phraseology 
and elegance of diction, compare most favorably with the 
productions of the best scholars of to-day. 

At the close of the Proprietary period, it may not be far 
wrong to suggest tliat the per cent of highly educated and 
leading men in the eolmiy in proportion to population (which 

a Bvifkell, p. 0. 



iSToTEs ON Colonial, jS[okth Carolina 1700-1750. 21 

was thirty-five thousand) was as great as it is in iSTorth 
Carolina to-day, but the masses for many years had little 
opportunity for education. 

Of the great families of the province at that time, during 
the second quarter of the eighteenth century, may be men- 
tioned the Swanns, Porters, Gales, Moseleys, Moores, Pol- 
locks, Vails, Blounts, Bryans, Maules, Ashes, Johnstons, 
Herritages and others. It is safe to say that in honor, char- 
acter, virtue and accomplishments, they were not excelled 
by any families on the American continent. They were 
people of education, refinement, culture and abundance. 
Without great wealth they lived in comfort and plenty. With 
lands, slaves, books, plate, horses and carriages they were 
leaders in a social life that rivaled the best in the adjoining 
colonies. 

The early settlers took up the choicest lands on the rivers 
to such an extent that laws were passed to prevent the entering 
of too much land on the rivers to the exclusion of other set- 
tlers. In laying out the lands the enterer was at first al- 
lowed to take up 640 acres or a square mile in one tract 
on the river, a, but the act further proA'ided that 
the surveyor should not "lay out two several tracts 
of land for any one person within two miles at 
least of each other, unless by particular warrant from the 
Lords Proprietors for that purpose." It must have been 
easy to obtain this "particular warrant from the Lords Pro- 
prietors for that purpose," or the law was not strictly ob- 
served, as we find many men in the province owning large 
bodies of land before iSTorth Carolina became a Royal 
Province. Of the large landed proprietoi-s, some of them 
owning as much as fifty thousand acres, may be mentioned 
George Burrington, Frederick Tones, Eoger Moore, Edward 
Moseley, Maurice Moore, John Lovick, William Maule, Dr. 
Patrick ^^laule, Seth Sothell, Robert Porster, Martin Franks, 

a Chap. 33, See. 4, Laws 171.5. 



22 XoTEs ox CoLo:s'iAL XoETii Cakolina 1700-1750. 

Christopher Gale, John Porter, Thomas Pollock, Cullen Pol- 
lock, ^Yillialu Stephenson, John Baptista Ashe and others. * 
To prevent non-residents entering land for speculation, one 
was required to have resided in the province for two years 
before they could sell their rights and lands, a All 
persons entering land were required to pay on the 
29th of September one shilling for every fifty acres as 
quit rents, and were to be allowed three years to seat and 
plant, and the patentee was required to build a habitable 
house and to clear and fence and plant at least one (1) acre 
of land within the time limited, h In the Coun- 
cil Journal March 31, 1726, we read: "For saving 
of lands for the future, every house shall be fifteen foot long, 
ten Broad, Made tight and habitable of Clapboards or Loggs 
squared, with a roof and chimney-place and a Door-place 
The whole acre cleared well, the major part of it broke up 
and planted with either fruite, trees or grain." c 
The large land-owners probably built one or two 
log houses on each tract of land, and placed thereon an over- 
seer with several slaves. The overseers were frequently in- 
dentured servants in bond or those who had served their term 
and were in the employment of their former masters. They 
were sometimes hired for wages, but often for a part of the 
produce of the land. The customary wages being "for which 
Service he is allowed every seventh Calfe, seventh Pole and 
half of all young hogs that are bred during his stewardship, 

a Laws 1715, C. 2. 

6 Laws 1715, Ch. 26. 

cC. R., Vol. 2, p. 607. 

* Note. — Bernheim, Vann and other writers say Martin Franks 
came to North Carolina in 1732. This is an error. He was treasurer 
of Craven precinct before that time (Page manuscript laws, in 
Everard's time) and was one of the signers of a petition in 1711-12. 
(Hawks.) In Grant records. Book 2, page 254, is recorded, Apr. 
14, 17.30, a grant in Craven Precinct, Bath County, to Martin Franks 
for Ten thousand one hundred and seventy-five (10,175) acres. The 
grant recites that "All of which land was granted to the sd Martin 
Frank by a warrant dated .Tune 1.5th, 1711." 



Notes on Colonial ]S[or.Tii Carolina 1700-1750. 23 

and likewise the seventh part of all sorts of grain and to- 
bacco that is produced on the said plantation." a * 

The slaves also made tar and turpentine in the spring and 
summer season, clearing land in the fall and winter; the 
women and children worked the corn raising sufficient for 
the men and animals. 

During the wars between England and France, the Swedish 
merchants, wdio controlled the naval stores trade of the world, 
put the price of tar to such an extortionate figure that Eng- 
land gave bounties to her colonists to produce it, ** About 
1704, ISTorth Carolina commenced its production, and for two 
hundred years it has been one of the chief products of the 
State. In the year 1753 North Carolina exported 61,528 
barrels of tar; 12,052 do. of pitch; 10,429 do. turpentine, 
762,000 staves; 61,580 bus. corn, 100 (?) lihd^. tob-cco, and 
about 30,000 deer skins, besides lumber and other commodi- 
ties. In 1708 the exports- from all America was 6,089 bar- 
rels of pitch and tar to England, h 

ffBrickell, p. 269. 
I) Chalmers. 

* Note. — lu Carroll's Historical Collections of South Carolina, Vol. 
2, p. 201, we are told that overseers, when hired for wages, were 
paid fifteen to forty povmds per annum, and laborers from one shill- 
ing and three pence to two shillings a day "with Lodging and Diet." 

* * * 

** The following is taken from the English Statutes at Large, Vol. 4, 
1000-171.3. 

"Chap. X. 1704— 

** An Act for encouraging the importation of Naval Stores from her 
Majesty's plantations in America. 

* * * any of the naval stores hereafter mentioned, shall have 
and enjoy, as a Reward or Praemium for such Importation, after 
and according to the several rates for such Naval Stores as fol- 
lows, viz : 

II. For good and merchantable Tar per Tun, containing eight 
Barrels, and each Barrel to gage thirty-one Gallons and an half. 
Four Pounds. 

For good and merchantable Pitch per Tun, each Tun containing 
twenty Gross hundreds (Net Pitch) to be brought in eight barrels, 
four Pounds. ' 

For good and merchantable Rozin or Turpentine per Tun. each 
Tun containing twenty Gross hundred (Net Rozin or Turpentine) to 
be brought in eight Barrels, three Pounds. 

For Hemp. Water rotted, bright and clean, per Tun. each Tun 
containing twenty Gross hundreds, six Pounds. 

For all Masts. Yards and Bowsprits, per Tun, allowing forty Foot 
to each Tun. Girt measure, according to the customary way of 
measuring round bodies, one Pound. 

This Act was later repealed.) 



24 XoTES oi^ Colonial Xorth CakoliNx^. 1700-1750. 

Every planter of ordinary thrift soon became independent. 
In the most primitive period of onr history the first houses 
of the planters were built of logs. The house was of notched 
logs and was probably such as is seen in many sections of 
the State to-day. Between the logs were fastened split poles 
which were chinked with mud. The chimneys were mostly 
wooden, the base, body and brast of chimney being logged 
up to the funnel, after which a square pen or stack of sticks 
was made and daubed inside and out with clay to cement 
together and to protect from burning. The inside of the 
fire-place was covered with mud in the same way. Lumber 
was scarce and expensive, and such as they had was sawed 
by hand in saw-pits or imported from Boston, a It was prob- 
ably about 1730, before saw mills made their appearance in 
ISTorth Carolina, h Just before 1750 these mills sawed about 
150,000 feet a year. 

Col. Byrd, in his "History of the Dividing Line," c says : 
''Most of the houses in this part of the Country are log 
houses, covered with Pine or Cypress shingles three feet 
long and one broad. They are hung upon laths with PeggS; 
and their doors too turn upon Wooden Hinges, and have 
Wooden Locks to secure them, so that the Building is finisht 
without nails or other iron work." 

It may be interesting to note what was regarded as a 
habitable house as shown by the size of liouses required to be 
built in the various towns within eighteen months or two 
years after purchasing lots. Pollock in 1720 required that 
the houses built on lots in ISTew Bern (which town he OA\Tied) 
should be "not less than Fifteen Foot square." d As 
late as 1756, eighteen months' time was given for 
building on lots taken up, and a habitable house of sixteen 



a Thomas Pollock's Will. 

I) C. R., Vol. -.i. pp. 427, 4.32, (1732) ; C. R., Vol. 4. pp. 52, Gl, (1735). 

Vol. 1. p. 5!). 

d C. R.. Vol. 2, p. 386. 



XoTES ON Colonial Xoetii Caeolusta 1700-1750. 25 

feet by twenty-four feet required, a In Edenton h houses were 
required to be ''not of less Dimensions than Twenty Feet long, 
Fifteen Feet in width and Eight Feet in Height between the 
first floor and the joists," and no wooden chimneys were 
allowed to be built there after the first day of May, 1741. c 
At Brunswick houses were to be 20 feetxlG feet, d When 
the to^\^l of Johnston, in Onslow, which was afterwards de- 
stroyed by a wind storm in September, 1752, e was incorpor- 
ated/ the inhabitants buying lots were required to build within 
two years a "good, substantial habitable frame-house not of 
less dimensions than Twenty Four feet in length and Six- 
teen feet wide, besides sheds and Leantos." When Capt. 
Richard Sanderson attempted to build a town on Roanoke 
Island g it was required that the houses should be 20 feetxlS 
feet. In the establishment of ISTewtown (which afterwards 
became Wilmnigton), it was made a town, "Provided, the 
Inhabitants thereof do, within the space of two years from 
the date hereof build and erect six Brick HoiTses in the princ- 
ipal streets, of forty feet long and thirty feet deep." li When 
the village of ISTewton was changed into the town of Wil- 
mington i it was required that before one was allowed to vote 
for a representative for the said town in the General As- 
sembly he must be "a Tenant of a Brick, Stone or framed 
habitable House, of the Length of Twenty Feet, and Sixteen 
Feet Broad ; or an inhabitant of a Brick House of the Length 
of Thirty Feet, and Sixteen Feet Broad, between the Bounds 
of said Town, upwards, and Smith's Creek, and within One 
Hundred and Twenty Poles to the Cape Fear River." This 



a Laws 1756. Ch. 12. 
ftLaws, 1740, Ch. 1, Sec. 2. 
r-Laws 1740. Ch. 1. See. 13. 
rtLaws 1745. Ch. 12, Sec. 8. 
e Martin. Vol. 2. p. Gl. 
fLaws 1741. Ch. 12, Sec. 6. 
a Laws 1715, Ch. 59. 
1} C. R., Vol. 4, p. 43. 

/Laws 1739, Ch. 4, Sees. 4 aucl 5, and Laws 1740, Ch. 4, Sees. 7 
aucl 8. 



26 KoTES ON Colonial aSToETH Carolina 1700-1750. 

was probably intended to include several of the prominent 
men who lived near to town. 

The planters lived upon their estates with residences gen- 
erally more pretentious than the town houses. A few of these 
houses were of brick, but they were commonly frame houses. 
Some of them were of considerable dimensions even early in 
the eighteenth century. There were few brick houses in 
iS^ort]] Carolina. Even after the planters became wealthy 
they did not affect them. In a humid climate brick houses 
were probably damp and unhealthy. In ISTew Bern there 
were only two brick dwelling houses as late as 1792. a 

There are to-day standing houses of well-to-do planters 
that were built prior to 1750. Some of them brick, but 
mostly of wood. These houses are about forty feet long and 
twenty feet wide, to which are added shed rooms or "leantos." 
The basements or cellars are about 7 or 8 feet pitch, the walls 
to the cellar being massive masonry of rock, the rock having 
come from the West Indies as ballast for vessels. In the 
cellar is generally a large room about 19x19 feet at one end, 
and the other end divided into small rooms which are used 
for storage. The walls of the cellar rise several feet above 
the ground. In the large cellar room there is a fire-place 
several feet deep, about eight feet wide and four feet high. 

a Morse Geog., Mrs. Powell's "New Bern." 

Note. — All the earlier brick builcliugs are said to have been built 
with "brick bronght from England." This probably means of "Eng- 
lish Brick" except a few pressed brick for tiles and ornamental pur- 
poses. In Harriot's Narrative ("1586) we read: "The planters may 
be well supplied with brick, for the making whereof in divers places 
of the country there is clay both excellent, good and plenty, and also 
by lime made of oyster shells and others burnt, etc." 

When Bacon burned Jamestown in 1675 there were a number of 
brick houses in the town. Drummond. the former Governor of North 
Carolina owning one which in an excess of patriotism he fired with 
his own hands. An old grant in Virginia in 16.37 for lands at James- 
town calls for the "Brick Mill" ; Lawson says in 1700 that there were 
"Large Brick Buildings" in Charleston at that time ; he further says 
"Good Brick and Tiles" were made in North Carolina. Brickell also 
informs us that "Brick and Tile" were made here in his time. The 
light tonnage of the vessels averaging probably not more than 100 
tons burden coming into these waters after a month's sail, from Eng- 
land, would have made the importing of brick quite expensive. 



jSToTEs ON Colonial Xorth Carolina 1T00-1T50. 27 

There were receptables or ovens built in the sides of the fire- 
place. Across the chimney, inside, ran a heavy iron rod on 
which w^ere the cranes for hanging pots. These cranes were 
made in two pieces and so adjusted that pots could be raised 
or lowered at will. In the cellar rooms were small windows. 
Resting on the cellar walls were the sills of the house, gener- 
ally 10x12 inches or 12x12 inches, hewn out of heart pine 
running the full length and breadth of the house; on these 
were the sleepers, six inches by eight inches or eight inches 
by ten inches, hewn out of heart pine, joined at the ends, 
mortised, tenoned and truncheoned with lightwood trunch- 
eons about one and a half or two inches in diameter. The 
sills were sometimes tarred with hot tar and wrapped in 
tarred canvas as a further protection against moisture. On 
the first floor is a large square room 19x19 feet. For sev- 
eral feet from the floor around the room, coming up to the 
base of the windows is panelling. The fire-place is four or 
five feet wide, and above it about six feet tall is the old 
wooden mantel of best workmanship. Adjoining the big room 
is a narrow passage with stairs ascending to the second floor 
and garret; across the passage are two small rooms. 

The second floor is a duplicate of the first and the garret 
is divided into small rooms with small windows at end of 
house. These houses frequently had brick ends as is so often 
seen in tidewater Virginia. All the timbers are of unbled 
pine and the nails used are hand-wrought. 



Note. — There are three of these houses still standing in Beaufort 
County : The Cotanche or Marsh House at Bath, the Maule House 
at Maule's Point and the old house at the Grimes Plantation on 
Tranters Creek. The old Cotanche House at Bath has closets in its 
massive chimney in which valuables could be placed to secure from 
fire. The chimney closets have small windows in the chimney. It 
was not unconimon to have an excavation bricked up on each side 
of the chimney opening inside by the hearth in which valuables 
could be placed. In some old chimneys under fire-places have been 
discovered a box or barrel with covers neatly fixed in the chimney 
foundation, so that by raking away the ashes and taking up part of 
the hearth these little vaults could be reached. These deposit places 
were safe from discovery and secure from fire. 



28 XoTES ON Colonial jSToktii Carolina 1700-1750. 

The planter's home residence was called the Manor or 
Manor House, The House, The Great House, etc. The 
family servants were settled near at hnad, while the overseer's 
house and quarters were some distance away. The estates 
were generally named, sometimes after the family or family 
estates in England, and often after the place in England 
from whence the planter came. The large planters prided 
themselves upon being "gentlemen" — the owner of lands with 
laborers to work for them. He was truly lord of all he sur- 
veyed, governed his own household and was law-giver to his 
poor neighbors. He arbitrated their disputes and settled 
their differences — he doctored them in sickness and helped 
them in time of need. The title of head or master of an 
estate carried with it position and hereditary dignity and 
power little less than an inherited title carried with it in the 
mother country. 

Labor was in the greatest demand. In January, 1733, 
Gov. Burrington, in writing to the Lords of Trade and Plan- 
tations, says : "Land is not wanting for men in Carolina, but 
men for land." * * '' "I compute the white men, 
women and children in ISTorth Carolina to be fully thirty 
thousand, and the negroes about six thousand. The Indians, 
men, women and children, less than eight hundred. * * * 
Great is the loss this country has sustained in not being sup- 
ply'd by vessels from Guinea with negroes; in any part of 
the province the people are able to pay for a ships load ; but 
as none come directly from Africa, we are under a necessity 
to buy the refuse, refractory and distempered negroes, 
brought from other governments ; it is hoped some merchants 
in England will speedily furnish this colony with negroes to 
increase the produce and its trade to England." a 

The planter's wealth was generally estimated by the num- 
ber of his slaves. All planters of any pretentions owned 

rrC. R., Vol. .^. pp. 4B0, 481. Pee nho Vol. 4, p. 172. 



iSToTES ON Colonial I^oetii Cakolina 1700-1750. 29 

slaves — negroes, Indians, mulatoes and mustees. The gold 
and silver that came into the hands of planters from sale of 
j)roduce was saved to purchase slaves with, as the traders re- 
quired specie payments. Female slaves under 20 years of 
age were especially desired. 

In 1733 the value of i)roducts exported to Virginia for 
which our people received cash was about £50,000 a year, a 
Quit rents, dues, taxes and all other debts, public and private, 
were paid to the government or creditors in commodities 
which were rated in 1715 as follows: 

£. s. d. 

''Tobacco, per cwt 10 

Indian corn per bushel 1 8 

Wheat per bushel 3 6 

Tallow ti'yped, per fb 5 

Leather tanned and uncured, per tb 8 

Beaver and other skins per lb 2 6 

Wild cat skins per piece 1 

Butter per lb 6 

Cheese per lb 4 

Buck and doe skins (raw) per lb 9 

Buck and doe skins (drest) per fb 1 4 

Feathers per lb 1 4 

Pitch (full gauged) per barl 1 

Whale oil " " 1 10 

Porke " " 2 5 

Beef " " 1 10 0" 

Rates were later somewhat changed. Flax and hemp were 
also added, h 

There was little currency in the province even at a much 
later period. In writing of IS'orth Carolina just before the 
Revolution a traveler says: "There is but little specie in 



&C. R., Vol. 3, p. 622. 

cC. R.. Vol. 4, pp. 469, 920. 



30 jS'oTES ox Colonial IsTorth Carolina 1700-1750. 

circulation ; indeed, there is no great occasion for it ; for a 
planter raises his o-wn meats, beef and bacon, his own corn 
and bread, his drink, cyder and brandy, his fruit, apples, 
peaches, etc., and a great part of his clothing which is cot- 
ton." a Almost all wealth was in land, slaves and stock. 
There was not much loaning of money; the legal rate of in- 
terest was 6 per cent, and the penalty for usury was for- 
feiture of twice the amount of the principal, h There was a 
considerable amount of Mexican, Peruvian and Spanish coin 
in circulation in the province, the value of which was fixed 
by proclamation of Queen Anne. 

a Smyth's Tour In America, p. 99. 

?>Laws 1741, Ch. 11. 

Note. — "An act for ascertaining the rates of foreign coins in Her 
Majesty's Plantations in America. 

WHEREAS, for remedying the inconveniences which had arisen 
from the different rates at which the same species of Foreign Silver 
coins did pass in Her Majesty's several Colonies and Plantations in 
America, Her Most Excellent Majesty has thought fit by her Royal 
Proclamation bearing date the eighteenth day of June one thousand 
seven hundred and four, and in the third year of her Reign, to settle 
and ascertain the currency of foi'eign coins in her said Colonies and 
Plantations in the manner and words following : 

We having had imder our Consideration the different rates at 
which the same Species of Foreign Coins do pass in our several 
Colonies and Plantations in Amei'ica, and the inconveniences thereof 
by the indirect practice of drawing the money from one Plantation 
to another to the great Prejudice of the Trade of our Subjects ; and 
being sensible that the same cannot be otherwise remedied than by 
reducing all foreign coins to the same current Rate within all our 
Dominions in America ; and the principal officers of our Mint having 
laid before us a table of the value of the several Foreign Coins 
which usually pass in Payments in our said Plantations according 
to their Weight and Assays made of them in our INIint, thereby 
shewing the just proportion which each coin ought to have to the 
other which is as followeth ; * * * 

II. And whereas, notwithstanding the said Proclamation the 
same indirect practices as are therein mentioned are still carried 
on within some of the said Colonies or Plantations and the money 
thereby drawn from one Plantation to another, in Prejudice of the 
Trade of Her Majesty's subjects; Wherefore for the better enforcing 
the due Execution of her ]Majesty's said Proclamation throughout 
all the said Colonies and Plantations, and for the more effectual 
remedying the said Inconveniencies, thereliy intended to be remedied. 
Be it enacted by the Queen's Most Excellent Majesty, by and with 
the Advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and 
Commons in this..present Parliament assembled and by the authority 
of the same * * * ." statutes at Large, Vol. 4, 1099-1715. Cap. 
.-{0. p. .",24, 1707. 

Tlie penalty for the violation of this law was six months' imprison- 
ment and a fine of Ten pounds for each offence. 



XoTES ON Colonial II^Toktii CxVeolina 1700-1Y50. 31 

Slaves were generally bought in Virginia or South Caro- 
lina at high prices, and after the most select ones had been 
chosen by the planters of those States. With the opening 
of the Cape Fear, the planters had an opportunity to buy 
slaves at first hands. Some of the planters who first settled 
on the Cape Fear took with them a considerable number of 
slaves from their plantations in Chowan and Pamlico. 
Among these may be mentioned : 

Edward Moseley with 62 slaves. 
Roger Moore with 100 slaves. 
John Porter with 62 slaves. 

John Lovick with 34 slaves, a 

They moved that many in 1732 and were allowed head- 
rights of fifty acres for each member of their families. Roger 
Moore at the time of his death in 1751 owned 250 negroes. 

Slavery was the greatest eleemosynary and educational in- 
stitution for a weak and inferior race that the world has ever 
known. Some of the planters freed their slaves, but this 
does not seem to have met the approval of the colonists as 
freed slaves were required to leave the province or to be sold 
again into slavery, h 

In disposing of slaves care was taken not to separate the 
men and their wives and children ; an instance of this kind 
is sho\vn in the will of Cullen Pollock, 1749. Occasionally 
negro slaves could read and write even in the earliest period, 
and negroes were allowed to raise "side crops" of tobacco, 
to gather herbs, etc., and the money derived from these was 
theirs individually and to do as they pleased with, c 

When it became necessary to execute a slave the owner 
was repaid his value, which was assessed by the Justices and 
allowed by the Assembly, d 



aC. R., Vol. 3. p. 426. etc. 
?)Laws 1741. Ch. 24, Sec. 56. 
c Brlckell. p. 275. 
r?La\vs 1741. Ch. 24, See. 46. 



32 XoTES ON Colonial Xoktii Caeolina 1700-1750. 

All slaves were tytbable at the age of 12 years, a 
Every master was allowed to permit one slave on every plan- 
tation to carry a gun for the protection of stock and for hunt- 
ing game for the table, h All slaves away from their mas- 
ters' plantations were required to have "certificate of leave 
in writing for so doing, from his or her master or overseer 
(negroes Avearing liveries always excepted)." c It seemed to 
please the fancy of the planters to name their slaves after the 
great characters in mythology and history, or to give them 
some whimsical name. Every large plantation had its Csesar, 
Cannibal, Scipio, Jupiter, Moses, Aaron, Pompey, Mars, 
Venus, Dido, Diana, Africa, Mustapha, etc. 

Indentured white servants were not as numerous in this 
country as in Virginia and Maryland. These unfortunates 
represented many classes and conditions. "Some of the con- 
victs sold as indentured servants were persons of family and 
education." d Convicts were sent to the colonies and 
sold into bondage. Others were sent into servitude 
for political offences. Many of the supporters of 
the Duke of Monmouth were deported to the American 
colonies and sentenced to ten years' servitude. Some in- 
dentured themselves to pay their passage money, which was 
about £5 in cash, and were sold upon arrival here by the 
sailing master. Christian servants above 16 years old im- 
ported into this government witliout indenture, were required 
to serve five years. All under 16 years of age were to serve 
till they were 22 years old. e All Christians Avere to be al- 
lowed by their master or mistress at the expiration of their 
service three barrels of Indian corn, two new suits of ap- 
parel valued at £5 at best, or in lieu of a suit of "apparell" 
"a good well-fixed gun if he be a man servant" ; they were 
also enttiled to fifty acres of land which they seldom took up. 



f/Laws 1741. Ch. 24. 
7jLaws 1741, Cb. 24. Sec. 41. 
rL:i\vs 1741. Ch. 24. Sec. 53. 
d Bancroft. Vol. 2. p. 251. 
cLaws 1715, Ch. 46, Sec. 6. 



^OTES ON Colonial Xoetii Cakolina 1700-1750. -33 

Many people, especially women and children, were kidnap- 
j^ed in London and other cities and brought to America to 
be sold as bond servants. The Colony passed an 
act a whereby the person kidnapped, if a Chris- 
tian or a subject of a friendly power, might recover 
from the Importer or Seller double the amount for which 
he was sold, and the defendant was required to give bond 
to transport the j^erson back to the land from whence he 
came within one year. 

Writing to the Lords of Trade and Plantations Gov. Bur- 
rington says : b "It is by breeding Horses, Hoggs, 
and Cattle that people without slaves gain substance 
here at first, not by their labor." The abundance 
of grass, reeds and rich vegetation caused the horses, cattle 
and hogs to multiply in vast numbers ; the stock were branded 
or marked and turned loose in the woods, being penned and 
fed enough to keep them from going entirely wild. Lawson 
says (1707) he had seen as many as one thousand cattle be- 
longing to one owner, and Brickell says he had seen one hun- 
dred calves in one pen belonging to one person. The calves 
Avere confined to insure the return of the cows each evening, 
a custom that prevails with cattle raisers in Eastern Caro- 
lina to this day. 

About 1728 there was a disease that destroyed half the 
cattle in the Province ; c again about 1760 another cattle 
distemper was brought in the Province from South Caro- 
lina by which near 7-8 of the stock was lost, d The impor- 
tance of the cattle industry seems to have declined from that 
time. 



a Laws 1741, Cli. 25. Sec. 23. 

1) C. R., Vol. 3, p. 148. 

cC. R., Vol. 3, p. 28. 

dC. R., Vol. 6, p. 1.020. 

Note. — We are told that in South Carolina the writer Peter Purry 
in 1731 had known "one Planter to mark two hundred calves last 
spring" ; Again, another writer states that in South Carolina "Black 
Cattle are extremely plentiful. ifT^riv srentlemen owning from five 
hundred to fifteen hundred head. Carr. Coll.. Vol. 2. pp. 123, 482. 



o4 XoTEs ON Colonial JSTokth Carolina 1700-1750. 

Horses were raised in considerable numbers. They were 
turned out to range, it being necessary to feed them only in 
the winter time. In almost every locality in the early settled 
sections of North Carolina there are to-day places where tra- 
dition tells us were "horse pens." Many localities have such 
names as the "Horse neck pocoson/' "Horse Pen branch," 
etc. These horses are described as smaller than the average 
liorses now in use but of great endurance. Many of them 
are said to have gone wild. 

Hogs were raised in vast numbers, the woods abounding 
in berries, fruits, acorns and mast of all kinds. The Coastal 
Plain was heavily set in oaks of all kinds and the acorns 
furnished abundant food for hogs. Hogs were kept until 
grown, and it became a custom on account of their uniform 
size to count the pieces, hams, shoulders, sides, etc., instead 
of weighing. This custom prevailed until the middle of the 
past century. Planters now living tell me that they have sold 
dried meats that way which were transported in flat boats 
down the rivers to be loaded in vessels for the West Indies. 
Beef and pork barrelled dry, and in pickle, were of the rated 
commodities, and for many years were two of the chief ex- 
ports of the colony. 

Gov. Burrington reported in 1736 that there were fifty 
thousand hogs and ten thousand fat oxen driven into Vir- 
ginia yearly, a The want of salt made this necessary. 
These came from Pamlico and Albemarle, and -svere in ad- 
dition to the amount of barrelled meat shipped. 

Horses were branded and Cattle and Hogs were marked 
in the ears, a custom that still prevails. '" 

For altering or defacing brands or the mismarking of 
stock there was a penalty of ten pounds proclamation money 
over and above the value of the animal, and "forty lashes on 



ft C. R.. Vol. 4. p. 172. 

'•=XoTE. — The writer's mark now in use "a crop slit and under bit 
both ears," has been the family stock mark for more than a cen- 

tlU'V. 



XOTES OX CoLOiS'IAL XOKTII CAilOLi:N'A lTOO-1750. 35 

his bare back well laid on, and for the second offence^ he 
shall pay the price above-mentioned, stand in the Pillory 
Two Hours and be branded in the left hand with a red hot 
iron the letter T." * * ^ "Such slave or slaves shall, 
for first offence, suffer both his ears to be cut off, and be pub- 
licly whipt, at the Discretion of the Justices and Freeholders 
before whom he shall be tried ; and for the second offence 
shall suffer death." a 

The discovery of the rich Cape Fear bottoms where the 
rice lands are as fertile as any in the world, attracted at- 
tention near the close of the Proprietary period, and quite 
a colony of the leading men from Albemarle and Bath coun- 
ties went there ; among them the Porters, Ashes, Moores, Lil- 
lingtons, Moseleys, etc. Of these the Hon. Geo. Davis says : 
''They were no needy adventurers, driven by necessity, no 
unlettered boors, ill at ease in the haunts of civilization, and 
seeking their proper sphere amidst the barbarism of the sav- 
ages. They were gentlemen of birth and education, bred in 
the refinements of polished society, aud bringing with them 
ample fortunes, gentle manners, and cultivated minds — most 
of them united by ties of blood, and all by those of friend- 
ship, they came as one household, sufiicient to themselves, and 
reared their family altars in love and peace." 

It was not an uncommon thing for a wealthy planter to 
own twenty or thirty thousand acres of land, h 

Provoked by a charge that some of them OT\Tied more than 
one hundred thousand acres each, John Porter, Edward 
Hyrne, Jno. Swann, Sam Swann, J. Davis, M. Moore, Thos. 
Jones, Xathaniel Moore and Jno. Davis signed a memorial, 
saying they together did not own more than seventy-five 
thousand acres, and had "not more than t^velve hundred per- 
sons in their families." c 



r/Laws 1741. Cli. 8. 
h V. R.. Vol. 4. p. 426. 
cC. R.. Vol. 4, p. 315. 



36 Notes on Colonial Xoeth Caeolina 1700-1750. 

Tlie planters lived on the streams, and every family had 
its periaiiger, canoe, sloop or brigantine. 

The water-ways were the chief mode of transportation. 
To the planters' doors came the ships of the old world, and 
especially the sloops of the ISTew England and West India 
trader. 

Many of the more substantial planters owned vessels that 
traded with 'New England, the Barbadoes and occasionally 
made trips to Europe. The periaugers Avould carry eight or 
ten tons or fifty or sixty barrels of pork or tar, and were well 
adapted to the shallow creeks and landings that they oftenest 
frequented. The usual vessels in our waters were not of 
more than fifty or seventy-five tons, mainly the J^ew England 
sloops. At an early period an effort was made to encourage 
]!^orth Carolina ship owners, and in an act of 
1715, a vessels entering the government were re- 
quired to pay one pound of powder, four pounds swan shot 
and twelve flints for every three tons' measure, and for want 
thereof ten shillings for every three tons — this was not to 
apply to vessels built in this country or owned in whole or 
in part here, nor to those vessels loaded wtih salt to unload 
here. 

The absence of deep water shipping ports was the greatest 
handicap under which this province labored. Eor many 
years its importations were through the Virginia capes. Most 
of its commodities were brought from ISTew England where 
they were imported and re-shipped to us. 

Tobacco promised at one time to be our chief money crop, 
but there was an over production. The first Carolina law of 
which we have any record was "An Act prohibiting the sow- 
ing, setting, planting or in any way tending any tobacco" 
from Eeby. 1st., 1667, to Eeby. 1st., IQQS.h A 
similar effort was made bv Virginia and Maryland 



a Laws 1715. Cli. .35. 

1) S. P. N., Vol 1, p. 34. 



Notes on Colonial ]sroETii Cakolina 1700-1750. 37 

at the same time. The next blow to our tobacco interests 
came about 1679 in "An act against importing tobacco from 
Carolina, and other ports without the Capes of Virginia." 
it was enacted: "That such importation from henceforth 
be, and by virtue of this, remain prohibited and forbidden ; 
and that if any tobacco hereafter, in anywise whatsoever, 
shall be imported from Carolina or other ports without the 
Capes, into this colony and dominion in order to be laid here 
on shore, sold or shipped, the same shall be thereby forfeited 
and lost." a 

Another act similar to the above was passed by Virginia 
against ISTorth Carolina in 1726. Against this the inhabitants 
of Albemarle protested, setting forth "That the Inlets to that 
part of ]^orth Carolina are not capable of receiving vessels 
of Burthen fitt for the transportating of Tobacco from thence 
to Great Brittain." This effectually prohibited shipping, and 
thereby destroyed our market for tobacco. The planters 
could raise tobacco sufficient to pay quit rents, etc,, which the 
government accepted at the rated price, but they could not 
sell it jirofitably and were forced to leave off planting in 
quantity for profit. "Endeavoring to cloathe themselves with 
tlieir own manufactures" would compete wdth British manu- 
facturers, so the British Board of Trade repealed these acts 
July 29, 1731. h 

According to Lawson Roanoke Inlet was ten feet over the 
bar, but the sands were shifting and uncertain after coming 
within. Hatteras had four or five fathom on bar, but after 
getting into the sound not more than six feet of water was 
to be found. At Ocracoke, in Lawson's time, there was 
thirteen feet at low water and eighteen feet at high water, 
and after crossing the bar safe anchorage was found in seven 
or eight fathom water. Wimble (1738) says there was 17 
feet on bar ; in Teach's hole 4 fathoms of water, and in the 
sound an eieht to nine feet channel was to be found. 



a (. R., Vol. 1, p. 628. 
6 C. R., Vol. 3, p. 211, 



38 XoTES ON Colonial jSToeth Caeolina 1700-1750. 

At Beaufort, on Topsail Inlet, was two fathoms of water, 
according to Lawson, and five or six fathoms in the harbor. 
Wimble says there was seventeen feet on the bar. Prof. 
Bache, Superintendent of Coast Survey in 1851, gives seven- 
teen feet at low water. In re]3ort to Congress Prof. Bache 
states that "a ship drawing twenty feet of water can leave at 
any state of tide, with almost any wind and discharge her 
pilot at sea in from thirty to forty-five minutes after weighing 
anchor." 

Roanoke Inlet was early abandoned because it was shifting, 
shallow and dangerous, and Ocracoke became the customary 
entrance as about nine feet of water could be secured from 
Ocracoke to Bath, ISTewberne and Edenton. From Bath to^vn 
to Ocracoke was reckoned seventy miles, a 

Bath promised at one time to be the commercial metropolis 
of Pamlico and Albemarle Sounds, and was an important port 
of entry. When it was determined to have a permanent 
capital the General Assembly voted to make Bath the seat 
of government, but "by management" Gov. Johnston secured 
the selection of ISTewberne. h 

Burrington, who had considerable wisdom, wished to make 
Ocracoke the port of entry, abolishing collection districts of 
Roanoke (Edenton), Currituck and Bath town. At Ocra- 
coke we could have a direct trade with Europe, receiving the 
larger sea-going vessels there and distributing the produce 
to the various parts of our colony in smaller vessels and have 
direct importation of negroes. He did not, however, have 
sufficient influence at Court for that purpose, and for years 
our neighbors to the north and south of us received the great 



a C. R., Vol. 3, p. 170. 
bC. R., Vol. 4, p. 833. 



XoTES ON Colonial jS^okth Caeolina 1700-1750. o9 

ships and re-shipped to our waters in smaller vessels, receiv- 
ing the profits and benefits that should have been ours. '"'^ 

Gov. Burrington in 1731 writes: 

"The pilots I have appointed assure me that at Ocracoke 
they bring in vessels that draw sixteen or eighteen feet water, 
at Port Beaufort that draw twenty, and at Cape Fear near 
two and twenty — this account the Pilots offered to swear 
too. Currituck Inlet is shut up, and Poanoke is so dangerous 
that few people care to use it, but go round to Ocracoke." a 

Port Beaufort had but a very small quantity of land be- 
longing to its district and was very inconvenient to traders on 
IvTeuse Piver, and the traders in that section were "forced to 
ride forty miles to enter and clear at Beaufort tliro' a low, 
watery and uninhabited country, Avhich after great rains is 
not passable in many days," h 

At Cape Fear Lawson found "seven fathom on barr with 
fine harbor" and this was, and is, probably the best natural 
port south of ISTew York. Tryon said in 1764: "The en- 
trance over this bar is esteemed equal to that of Charleston." c 

Vol. 3, p. 210. 
Vol. 4. p. 169. 
Vol. 6, p. 1,059. 

—Burrington says, C. R., Vol. 3, p. 336, "At the south end 
of an island called Ocracock there is sufficient depth of water for 
any merchantman to come in and a secure harbor, this Island is 
separated from the main land by a Sound about fourteen leagues 
over that cannot be passed by a Vessell that dra\A's tenn foot water, 
it has communications with many large rivers that water so great 
a part of this country as contain four parts in five of all the Inhabi- 
tants within the Province. On this Island there is n hill whereon 
if a small fort was Erected Cannon would from thence Command the 
Rarr. Channell and Harbour, there is no one thing that would cause 
the trade of this Province to flourish like setting a Custom House on 
this Place, .this would procure a trade fi'om England, in a little time 
put an end to the Pedllng carried on by the Virginians and People of 
New England." 

Note. — A letter from Capt. Winslow of the U. S. Corps of Engi- 
neers gives the distance from Ocracoke Inlet to Washington, N. C, 
75 miles; (about 12 miles above Rath). Ocracoke Inlet to New 
Berne. N. C, 70 miles ; Ocracoke Inlet to Edenton, N. C, 130 miles." 
Regarding Roanoke Inlet he gives the following data : 
"It was open in 15S5: depth not known. It was navigable for (0) 
nine feet in 1708: for eight (8) feet in 1738 and 1775; it was open 
in 1705: depth not known, and was closed in 1875. The time of the 
closure not being definitely known." 



aC. 


R., 


&C. 


R., 


cC. 


R., 


* Note.- 



40 XoTEs ON Colonial j^oktii Carolina 1700-1750. 

''The distance from Charleston bar to that of Cape Fear is 
sixty leagues, and has been frequently run in twenty hours." 

In a letter to the Lords of the Board of Trade, Dec. 12, 
173-1, Gab Johnson says the Cape Fear was "the best navi- 
gation of any betwixt Chesapeak Bay and Cape Florida, and 
that the past year forty-two ships went loaded from this 
river." He. said that the first settlement there was about 
eight years before. 

When direct trade commenced at Wilmington the Cape 
Fear country soon became one of the most important com- 
mercial sections in America. 

The leading men of the jirovince were well educated, 
thougli little provision was made for the laboring classes. 
Gentlemen's sons were sent to Williamsburg, Charleston, 
Xew England and Old England ; some had tutors at home. 
The daughters were taught by their o^\ti mothers or placed 
with ladies who undertook to educate them. 

The ministers and lay readers were generally also teachers^ 
iuid educated indentured servants were sometimes used for 
that purpose. Charles Griffin about 1705 was probably the 
first professional teacher in the Province, and others fol- 
lowed. Brickell a says: "The want of the Protest 
ant clergy is generally supplied by some School-Masters, wlio 
read the Liturgy. These are most numerous and are dis- 
persed through the whole Province." A free school for the 
education of Indian and negro children was established by the 
Society for the Propagation of the Gospel at Bath about 
1720. h 

The law required c "That all orphans shall be 
Educated and provided for according to their Rank 
and degree" out of the "Income or Interest of their 
Estate and Stock, if the same will be sufficient, otherwise such 



Page 35. 

1) See" Riiinsford's letter. 

c Ch. 49, Laws 1715. Sec. 4. 



XoTEs o^ Colonial Xorth Carolina 1700-1750. 41 

orpliau shall be bound apprentice to some Handycraft Trade 
(the Master or Mistress of such Orphan not being of the Pro- 
fession of the People called Quakers) till they shall come 
of age." 

Religion was established by law, but the people were al- 
lowed to worship God in their ovm way and no one was re- 
quired to conform to the faith and forms of The Church unless 
they wished to. The Established Church was supposed to be 
supported by taxes, but the inhabitants do not seem to have 
been liberal or prompt in their settlements : 

'''With absolute freedom of sonscience, benevolent reason 
was the simple rule of their conduct." a 

All Protestant Dissenters were allowed to have their meet- 
ings for the exercise of their religion without molestation, 
but no Quaker was qualified or permitted to give evidence in 
any criminal causes or to serve on any jury, or bear any 
office or place of profit or trust in the government, h 

The early settlers were governed by the laws of England 
and such additional laws as were not repugnant thereto. 

In the revision of 1715 the first of the "Six Confirmed 
Laws" was "An Act concerning Marriages." After reciting 
the absence of ministers in the Province to join "in wedlock 
according to the Rites and Customs of our natural Country 
the Kingdom of England : that none may be hindered from 
so necessary a work for the preservation of Manlcind and 
settlement of this country." Sec. 2 reads. "It is enacted and 
be it enacted by the Palatin and Lords Proprietors, of Caro- 
lina, by and with the consent and Advice of the present 
Grand Assembly and the authority thereof, that any two 
persons desirous to be joined together in the Holy Estate of 
Matrimony, taking three or four neighbours along with them 
and repairing to the Governor or any one of the Council, 
before him declaring that they do join together in the Holy 



a Bancroft. Vol. 2. p. 154. 

6 Laws 171.5. Ch. t>. Sees. 2, H. Ro-onncted in 1749. 



42 jSTotes on Colonial ISTorth Carolina 1700-1750. 

Estate of Wedlock and do accept one the other for Man and 
Wife, and the said Governor or Councellor before whom 
such Act is performed, giving certificate thereof, and the 
said certificate being registered in the Secretary's oflice, or by 
the Register of the Precinct or in such office as shall here- 
after be appointed for that use. It shall be deemed a Lawful 
Marriage, & the persons violating that marriage shall be 
punished as they had been married according to the Rites 
and Customs of England." 

Later magistrates were allowed to perform the marriage 
ceremony, a Registration of marriages, births and 
deaths were required, h and "every. Planter, Owner, 
Attorney or Overseer of every settled plantation in 
this Government, or that hereafter shall be settled 
shall set apart a Burial place, and fence the same for the 
interring of all such Christian persons whether bond or free 
that shall die on their plantations." * 

In this day of temperance agitation the following law may 
be worth mentioning, and the idea of requiring a bond of 
liquor dealers for the faithful observance of the law may be 
worth reviving: c "An act concerning Ordinary 
keepers and Tippling houses." The keepers of Taverns or 
Ordinaries were required to have license to sell liquor and 
to give bond for the due observance of the law; it further 

a Laws 1741, Cli. 1. Sec. 9. 

h Laws 171.5, Ch. 47. 

r-Laws 171.5, Ch. 5.3. 

* Note. — It seems to have been a custom at buryings to feed the 
people attending. The following bill pasted in "Minute Docket 
1695-1712" may not be uninteresting. 

Bill of Arthur Carlton for sickness and burial expenses of Thomas 
Catlett: (1703.) 

£. s. d. 

My trouble in ye sickness 10 

coffin 10 

sheat 8 

digging grave, etc 5 6 

funeral dinner 1 10 

By looking after hogs, etc 1 5 



XoTES ON Colonial jSTorth Caeolina 1T0U-1T50. 43 

provided that "nothing in this act shall be adjudged to hinder 
any Man from selling Cyder or other liquors, the produce of 
his own plantation, at any time hereafter by full and Lawful 
measures (the same not being drunk in the cellar house or 
plantation.)" The rate of charges for "Drink, Dyet, Lodg- 
ing, Fodder, Provender, Corn or Pasturage" was fixed by 
the Justices of the County Court, a There were 
very few poor in the province as there was great 
demand for labor, and every one who would exert himself 
had an abundance of "hog" and hominy," The fines collected 
for Sabbath breaking and swearing, profaneness, etc., were 
paid by the Justices to the Church Warden for the use of 
the poor of the parish, b If any person was 
wounded, maimed or hurt in his country's service 
"and not of ability to maintain himself or pay for 
his cure, he or they shall be cured at the Publick charge, 
and have one good negro man-slave allowed and purchased 
for him for his maintenance, and in the same case if any one 
shall be killed, the Publick shall make the same provision for 
his wife and family." 

To vote for a member of the Assembly one was required 
to be 21 years of age and to have been an inhabitant of the 
government six months, and • a free-holder with fifty 
acres, c This property qualification was not hard 
to attain, as every resident was entitled to fifty acres 
for himself and the same for each member of his family, if 
he chose to enter it. To be a member of the Assembly it was 
necessary to have been a resident of the Province for one full 
year and to be 21 years of age and own 100 acres of land. 

There were a number of good roads in the province before 
1750 — that from Edenton to Willi amsbura;, a distance of 



a Laws 1741, Ch. 20. Sec. 4. 
6 Laws 1715. Ch. 25. Sec. 8. 
r-Laws M4H. Ch. 1. Sec. 5. 



44 Notes on Colonial Xokth Carolina 1700-1750. 

100 miles, being very good and a great highway of traveh 
The road from "Edenton to Virginia, being made broad and 
convenient for all sorts of carriages, such as Coaches, Chaises, 
Waggons and Carts, and especially for Horsemen." a 
There was a road from Edenton to Bath, from 
Bath to K'ew Berne, and from ISTew Berne to Brunswick — 
distance, two hundred miles. 

The road system was not much inferior to that in many 
counties in ISTorth Carolina to-day. Every male person, 
white or black, from sixteen years of age to sixty, was re- 
quired to work the roads, h 

An effort to secure the carrying of letters was made early 
in our history. All letters superscribed for his Majesty's 
service directed to or subsigned by the Governor or other 
"Publick Officer" or by some Field Officer in the Militia at 
such time when the government is actually engaged in war 
against the "Indyaii Enemie" shall be "Immediately con- 
veyed from Plantation to the place and persons to whom 
they are directed under the Penalty of Five pounds for 
each default — one halfe to the Government and the other half 
to him or them which shall sue for the same." c 
It was further enacted that "where any person in 
the family the said letter comes to can write such person is 
hereby required to endorse the day and houre of the Receipt 
of it that the neglect or Contempt of any person therein may 
be the better discovered and punishment inflicted accord- 
ingly." The bill, costs and charges of carriages was ad- 
judged by the Court of each Precinct and paid by the Gen- 
eral Assembly, d Burrington said in 1731 "this law never an- 
swered the end, and is now entirelv useless." e 



a Brifkell, page 262. 

7>Laws 174.^, Cli. 3; C. Vx.. Vol. 3, p. 435. 

eLaws 1715, Ch. 1.^. Sec. 56. 

(7 Laws 171.5, Ch. 56. 

e Burrington, 1731; C. R., Vol. 3, p. 188. 



jSTotes o^' Colonial Xokth Cakolina 1700-1750. 45 

A general post-office was established iu New York in 1710 
for the Continent, with several branches, including Charles- 
ton in Carolina. Act Parliament 1710, Queen Anne. * 

In 1755 Gov. Dobbs in a message to the General Assembly 
called attention to the necessity of an "Established Post thro' 
this Province" and the necessity of correspondence with the 
neighboring Colonies, whereon James Davis, Printer, was 
employed for the sum of one hundred pounds, six shillings 
and eight pence Proclamation money for one year, "to convey 
all Publick Letters, Expresses and Dispatches relating to this 
Province to any part thereof, and every fifteen days send a 
messenger to Suffolk, in Virginia, and to Wilmington," a 

In a message to the General Assembly in 1764 Gov. Dobbs 
states that a "Packet Boat" has been established from Eng- 
land to Charleston. He urges the establishment of a post 
"once a Fortnight to carry letters from Suffolk, in Virginia, 
thro' this Province at least to our Sounthern Boundary." 

aC. R., Vol. 5, p. 516. 

* Note. — "An Act for establishing a General Post Office for all 
Her Majesty's Dominions and for settling a weekly Sum out of the 
Revenues thereof, for the Service of the War. and other Her Maj- 
esty's occasions." Statutes at Large, Vol. 4, 1699-1713. (A. D., 
1710), page 434. 

* * * 

"All letters and packets from London to New York in North 
America, and thence to London: Single, one shilling, Double (letters) 
two shillings, treble (letters) three shillings. Ounce four Shillings. 

All letters and Packets from any Part of the West Indies, to New 
York aforesaid: Single four pence; Double eight pence. Treble one 
shilling. Ounce one shilling and four pence. 

All letters and Packets from New York to any place within Sixty 
English Miles thereof, and thence back to New York: Single, four 
Pence, Double eight pence, treble one shilling. Ounce, one shilling 
and four Pence. 

All letters and Packets from New York aforesaid, to Charlestown, 
the Chief town in North and South Carolina, and from Charlestown 
aforesaid to New York: Single, one shilling six Pence; Double, three 
Shillings ; Treble four shillings six Pence ; Ounce six shillings. 

All letters and Packets from Charlestown aforesaid to any Place 
not exceeding one hundred English Miles, and thence back again : 
Single, six pence; Double, one shilling; Treble, one Shilling, six 
pence. Ounce two shillings." 

Mail carriers were allowed immediate and free ferriage over the 
rivers and for delaying more than half an hour or charging, the fer- 
ryman was to forfeit and pay for every offence the sum of £5. 



46 Notes on Colonial Xorth Caeolina 1700-1750. 

The General Assembly appropriated £133 6s. 8d. to be paid 
to the Postmaster if he establish this post, a 

The distribution of mails was made from Williamsburg 
and Charleston. In a letter from Governor Tryon, Dec. 8, 
1764, to Lord Hyde, Postmaster-General, he states that the 
Assembly voted £133 1-2 to establish a post from Williams- 
burg to Charleston "charging the customary postage on let- 
ters," by the following route: 

From William.sburg to Edenton 100 miles 

From Edenton to Brunswick 200 miles 

From Brunswick to Charleston 180 miles 



480 miles 



(This included the toAvns of Bath, I^ewbern and Wilming- 
ton.) 

The post had just been established from I^ew York to 
Williamsburg. He also petitioned that his Majesty's packet 
be ordered to touch at Cape Fear River at Fort Johnston. 
He stated that dispatches sometimes laid six wrecks at Charles- 
ton and occasionally months in Virginia before they were 
received, h Later Try on recommended the following route 
to avoid the "broad ferries of ITeuse Biver, Pamlico and 
Albemarle Sounds" from Suffolk, c 

Route from Suffolk, in Virginia, to the Boundary House 
of IvTorth and South Carolina on the sea coast. 

Miles. 
From Suffolk to Cotton's Ferry on Chowan River. ... 40 

Appletree Ferry on the Roanoke 30 

* Salters on Tar or Pamlico River 35 

Kemps' Ferry on Neuse 28 

ISTewbern 10 

Trentbridge 13 

flC. R., Vol. 6, pp. 1.291, 1,300. 
6C. R., Vol. 6, p. 1,058. 
cC. R., Vol. 7, p. 149. 

*NoTE. — Salters was afterwards Watkins' Ferry and is now Boyd's 
Ferry on Crimesl.-nul TMnntation. 



Notes on Colo:n;ial Xoktii Cakolijn^a 1700-1750. 17 

Mrs. Warburtons 13 

Sneads on K^ew River ferry 2G 

Sage's 13 

Collins' 11 

Wilmington 15 

Brunswick 15 

The Ferry 2 

To Bells' 20 

The Boundary House 23 



Total miles 297 

Gov. Tryon used special messengers for carrying his dis- 
patches. 

It seems that the first post route actually established thro' 
ISTorth Carolina was in January, 1769, though it was carried 
but once a month, a 

In 1770 the General Assembly passed "an Act to encourage 
and support the establishment of a Post-office within this 
Province." Of this act Martin says : "Davis says that this 
act was repealed by proclamation. I have no certificate of 
that ; However, it was only to be in force for two years, and 
from thence to the end of the next session of Assembly." * 

One of the first acts of the Continental Congress was to 
establish a post-office with post routes from Falmouth, Me., 
to Savannah, Ga. 

The large plantations were miniature republics, raising 
their ovsm beef, pork, horses, corn, grain, tobacco, wool, cot- 
ton, tallow, myrtle-wax, ** beeswax, etc., and catching fish in 
the nearby streams. 



oC. R., Vol. 8, pp. 3. 4. 

* Note. — I cannot find the manuscript law among the records in the 
Secretary of State's office. G. 

**NoTE. — The myrtle-wax was mixed with tallow and used for 
making candles and is said to have emitted a delightful and fragrant 
perfume while burning. 



48 XoTES ON Colonial N^orth Carolina 1700-1750. 

Each planter had his own saw pit, carpenter and cooper 
and blacksmith shop, tannery, etc. He raised wool and cot- 
ton enough to clothe his people, carded, spun and wove his 
own cloth and made his own shoes. 

In 1735 Brickell says ''The Cloathings used by the Men 
are English Cloaths, Druggets, Durois, Green Linnen, etc. 
The women have their silks, Calicoes, Stamp-Linnen, Cali- 
manchoes and all kind of Stuffs, some whereof are manu- 
factured in the Province." a 

In a few years after this "negro cloth" was made in con- 
siderable quantities and old inventories show us that almost 
every family had their spinning wheel, linen wheel, flax 
brake, hackles, looms, etc. Little cotton was exported. Only 
seven bags of two hundred and twenty-five pounds each being- 
exported from Charleston in 1747, and none from any other 
province, h 

In 1784 fifteen thousand nine hundred and seventy-five 
pounds (seventy-one bags two hundred and iwenty-five 
pounds each), were shipped to England and seized on the 
ground that the United States could not produce so mnch. 



(I Pa""e 38. 

& Carr. Coll.. Vol. 2, p. 2?.4. 

Note. — Wheu Whitney inveuted the cotton gin iu 1794 cotton gi'ow- 
ing was greatly enrouragecl. He was paid .$90,000 by the cotton-grow- 
ing States (N. C. paying thirty thonsand dollars, Sonth Carolina tifty 
thonsand dollars, and Georgia ten thonsand dollars) that their plant- 
ers eonld have the privilege of using his invention. The "Saw-Gin" 
was a circnlar saw revolving between iron ribs, tearing the lint from 
the seeds. One of these of ten saws can be now seen in the State 
Mnseuni. A tax was laid by the State of 2s. 6d. per annum for each 
saw used. 

In 1810 North Carolina, Sonth Carolina and Georgia and Virginia 
manufactured more than all of New England. 

North Carolina manufactured 7..''>70.154yai*ds of cloth. 

Virginia manufactured .S.007.2.55 yards of cloth. 

South Carolina manufactured .S.08B.1SS yards of cloth. 

Georgia manufactured .3,088.534 yards of cloth. 

In 1810. at a military review in North Carolina where 1,500 persons 
were present, all but forty wore homespmi. 
.T. I>. Watkins. Dept. Ag. Tear Book 1903. 



]^OTEs'OaSr Colonial Xoktii: Cakolixa 1700-1750. 41) 

Considerable linen cloth was made and the French colon- 
ists had introduced silk culture as well as wine-making. 

From 1731 to 1755 there were 40756 lbs. of raw and 
"Wrought Silk" exported from IN^orth and South Carolina 
into Great Britain, and 38621 lbs. of mixed "Silken Stuffs" 
imported into ISTorth Carolina and South Carolina from Great 
Britain, a '" 

The gentry for themselves and wives generally imported 
their clothing and dressed in a similar style to people of their 
station in England. England discouraged manufacturing in 
the colonies in every way possible, and up to the Revolution 
the gentry and better classes imported their clothing, but 
Avhen we separated from England we began to make every- 
thing we needed. 

Xails were made in blacksmith sliops on plantations ; and 
all ironware, pewter, etc., were imported. By an act of 
Parliament, h 



a Carr. Coll.. Vol. 2. p. 272. 
b Ilolnies' Annals, Vol. 2, p. 42. 

* Note. — In connection with silk it may be interesting to quote a few 
lines from Coxe in bis Caralana. p. 92. "Besides we have a grass, as 
they call Silk grass, which makes very pretty stuffs, such as come 
from the East Indies, which they call Herba Stuffs, whereof a gar- 
ment was made for Queen Elizabeth, whose ingredient came from Sir 
Walter Raleigh's colony, by him called Virginia, now North Carolina, 
a part of this Province, which, to encourage colonies and plantations, 
she was pleased to wear for divers weeks." 

Holmes' Annals, Vol. 1, p. 486. 

Master Ralph Lane writing to Mr. Richard Hakluytfrom the '' new 
fort in Virginia" Sept. 3, 1585, mentions "several kinds of flax and 
one kind like silk, the same gathered as a grass as common there as 
grass here." 

Hawks 1. p. 106. 

Thomas Harriot in his narrative writes of "silk of grass or grass- 
silk. There is a kind of grass in the country upon the blades whereof 
there groweth very good silk in form of a thin glittering skin to be 
stript off." 

Hawks 1, p. 154. 

The Rev. Dr. Curtis, the Botanist, says the plants mentioned by 
Lane and Harriot are evidently the same thing. "We have a plant 
(chrysopsis graminifolia) in the pine woods, almost "as common as 
grass" and now known as silk weed, which answers well to the ac- 
counts of these writers, and which I have no doubt is the one intended 
by them." 



50 ^'OTES ON CoLO]N^IAL E'OETH CaKOLINA 1700-1750. 

the ''erection of any mill or other machine for slitting 
or rolling iron or any plating forge to work with a tilt ham- 
mer or any furnace for making steel" in any of the colonies 
was forbidden. * 

The poorer planters at first used stone hand-mortars for 
pounding their grain tho' the better classes had hand-mills. 
These mills were of stones with about twenty inches or two 
feet face, and at first brought from England, though it was 
soon found that the calcareous rock on ]S[euse River h 
made admirable ones. This rock when first quarried 
was soft and easily shaped, but when exposed became hard 
and durable. These hand mills were worth five or six 
pounds, c 

In 1710 DeGraffenreid said there was only one water 
mill in the province. As late as 1730 there were only two 
or three water mills in the province and no wind mills, d 
The Assembly of 1715 a to encourage mills passed 
an act permitting the condemnation by the Pre- 
cinct Court of two acres for a water mill, and one-half acre 
for wind mill by any one engaging to erect a mill thereon 
within two years. If the owner of the land would obligate to 
build such mill himself, then the motion of the applicant for 
mill was denied. 



. a Laws 1715. Cb. ,37. 
ftBrickell, 2G3. 
c See inventories. 
(I Briclvell. 

*NoTE. — In 1731 Gov. Biirrington states that there was an abun- 
dance of iron ore in North Carolina. 

Note. — In 1775 at Hillsboro, the Provincial Congress made an 
effort to eneonrajie manufactures. "Premiums were voted for the 
manufacture of saltpetre, gunpowder, cotton and woolen cards, pins, 
needles, linen and woolen cloth, and for the erection of rolling and 
slitting mills, furnaces for the manufacture of steel and iron, paper 
mills, salt works, and for refining sulphur." Lossing. Vol. 2, p. 582 ; 
see also C. R., Vol. 9, p. 1,185 and Vol. 10, pp. 216-219. Immediately 
manufactures sprung into existence. 



I^^OTES ON Colonial I^oeth Carolina 1700-1750. 51 

lu 1722 there were nine precincts in North Carolina, and 
an act of that year provided for the erection of court-houses 
at the following places : 

For the Precinct of Chowan at Edenton ; 

For the Precinct of Perquimans at Jonathan Phelps Point 
at the Mouth of the ISTarrows; 

For the Precinct of Currituck on the land of Mr. William 
Peyner next to the land of Mr. William Parker; or at Mr. 
Parker's, "as the justices shall appoint" ; 

For the Precincts of Beaufort and Hyde at Bath town; 

For the Precinct of Craven at New Bern; 

For the Precijict of Carteret at Beaufort town ; 

For the Precinct of Bertie, now by this Assembly laid out 
at some convenient place at Ahotsky where the Justices shall 
appoint. 

For the Precinct of Pasquotank at such place as the Jus- 
tices shall appoint. 

Hyde was afterwards separated from Beaufort a 
and built a court-house of its own. In the next few 
years the following additional counties were erected. On the 
site of old Clarendon ISTew Hanover (1728) was established. 
From New Hanover were formed Onslow (1734) and Bladen 
(1734) and Duplin (1749). From the territory of old Bath 
County was erected Edgecombe (1733) Johnston (1746) 
and Granville (1746). Beaufort, Hyde and Craven having 
been previously made therefrom. From Albemarle the Pre- 
cincts of Pasquotank, Currituck, Perquimans, Chowan, Ber- 
tie and Tyrrell had been taken, and from it Northampton 
was also erected in 1741. All court-houses built in the vari- 
ous precincts were required by law to be at least 24 feet long 
and 16 feet wide, h 

The "Precincts" were changed to "Counties" in 1738. 



n Laws 1 720, Cli. P.. 

h Lnws 1722, Ch. S, Sec. 5. 



52 XoTEs ON Colonial Xorth Cakolixa 1700-1750. 

In 1749 realizing that the colony was becoming too im- 
portant to continue to have a migratory capital an act was 
passed fixing the seat of government at Xew Berne and ap- 
pointing John Starkey, Edward Griifith and Jeremiah Yail 
Commissioners to erect necessary public buildings. At this 
time circuit courts were established ; a commission appointed 
to revise and print the laws; the militia better regulated; a 
list of taxables arranged for; and £6000 appropriated for 
public schools. Direct trade had recently been opened from 
the Cape Fear to Europe, every ship brought high class immi- 
grants, and a new era had dawned for the colony. All 
the roads and trails to ISTorth Carolina from«South Carolina, 
Virginia and Pennsylvania were filled with the wagons of 
the home-seeker. The growth of Xorth Carolina from this 
time forward for the next half-century was probably the 
most remarkable in the history of American Colonization. 



The following extracts from a table in Holmes' Annals, 
Vol. 2, page 543, of exports to Great Britain and imports 
from Great Britain is most interesting: 



Exports to G. B. Imports from G. B. 



1701. 
1710. 
1720. 
1730. 
1740. 
1750. 
1773. 





Carolinas, 


B. 






£. 


s. 


d. 


16073 


6 


3 


20793 


9 





62736 


6 


8 


151739 


17 


6 


266560 


4 


5 


191607 


6 


3 


456513 


8 


4 



£. 


s. 


d. 


13908 


8 


3% 


19613 


18 


11% 


18290 


12 


11 


64785 


11 


5 


181821 


14 


11 


133037 





9 


344859 


9 


1 



XoTES o^ Colonial J^oetii Caeolina 1700-1750. 53 







New England. 






Expoi 


•ts to G. B. 






Imports from G. B. 




£. 


s. 


d. 


£. 


s. d. 


1701. 


3265G 


7 


2 


86322 


13 111/4 


1710. 


31112 


17 


m ■ 


106338 


6 4 


1720. 


40206 


12 


6 


128767 


2 11 


1730. 


54701 


5 


10 


208196 


5 5 


1740. 


72389 


16 


2 


171081 


2 5 


1750. 


48455 


9 





343659 


6 8 


1773. 


124624 


19 


6 


527055 


15 10 



In 1773 the exports from the Carolinas greatly exceeded 
the exports of Georgia, J^ew York, 'New England and Penn- 
sylvania. Virginia and Maryland alone exceeded us, and 
probably more than half the ISTorth Carolina exports were 
shipped from Virginia waters and classed as Virginia pro- 
ducts. 



Exports to G. ] 


B. 1773. 






Imports from G. 


B. 




£. 


s. 


d. 


£. 


s. 


d. 


Carolina, 


456.513 


8 


4 


344.859 


9 


1 


Georgia, 


85.391 


1 


8 


62.932 


19 


8 


Xew England, 


124.624 


19 


6 


527.055 


15 


10 


Xew York, 


76.246 


12 





289.214 


19 


7 


Pennsylvania 


36.652 


8 


9 


426.448 


17 


3 


Va. and Md., 


589.803 


14 


5 


328.904 


15 


8 




1369.232 


4 


8 


1979.416 


17 


1 



APPENDIX. 



As illustrative of couditions iu the Colonial period the following 
extracts from wills will prove interesting : 

WILLS. 

LIONEL READING, Bath County, July 12, 1708, probated Feb- 
ruary, 1725. Item. I give and bequeath to my well beloved Son Na- 
thaniel Reading the said plantation after his mother's decease * * * 
and one feather Bed with Furniture, with a hand Mill. * * * The 
Same not to be paid out of his own Cattle wch are of a different mark 
from mine which by record appears. Item I give & bequeath to my 
Daughter Sarah * * * the youngest of my horses now running in 
the Woods * * * ." 

THOMAS POLLOCK of Chowan County, 1721. Plantations aggre- 
gating about 55,000 acres of laud. The names of some of them as 
follows : "Five hundred and sixty acres in the fork of Raquis called 
Springfield ; * * * Yixe hundred acres of land lying on the 
South Side of Moratock River called Canecarora ; * * * six 
hundred and forty acres of land * * * on Bridges Creek at 
Weekacanaan A tract of land containing Two thousand eight hun- 
dred acres Lying on Cassayah called Rose-field ; * * * Nine 
hundred Acres of Land on Neuse River fork Called New-Bern. 

* * * Where Wilson lived at Weekacoou Creek : and where John 
Mainard lived at Pettishore also two thousand four himdred acres 
called Crany Island ; * * * Seven Hundred and Ten acres Lying 
on the North side of Trent River Called Ye Halfe-Way House. 

* * * also six hundred and Forty acres on Nuse River Called 
Wilkeson's Point." 

About eighty slaves were bequeathed the names of some of which 
are as follows: Scipio, Abraham, Diego, Mingo, Venus, Ctesar, 
Caramante Will, Sharper, London, Diana, Tomboy, Pompey. 

Land on Salmon Creek is given to son Thomas "Reserving free 
liberty to my son George to make what Pitch and Tar he sees fitting 
on the same with his hands for the space of three or four years 
after My Death." Also, "as to ye crop on ye Ground and what 
Pitch and Tar ye hands in ye woods makes until ye first of Aprill 
Next shall be Equally divided, etc." 

As to importations from and business dealings with New England : 
"I give and bequeath to my son Cullen one hundred pound to be paid 
in Boston and also five thousand foot of plank which I have sent 
for from Boston. * * * i give and bequeath unto my son George 
sixty pound to be paid in Boston." 



XoTEs OX CoLoxixiL XoETii Cakolixa 1700-1750. 55 

"Also I give and bequeath unto my Son Thomas one Third Part 
of all the vessels clearances whether it be in money, bills to New 
England or elsewhere 

also I give and Bequeath to my Son Cullen six Pound to be paid 
him in the first goods from New England at first cost I owing him 
so much 

also I give and bequeath to my Son George twenty pound to be 
paid him in the first goods I have come in from Boston I oweing him 
so much." "New England plank" is mentioned two or three times 
in the will. 

Codicil provides for building houses for sons of testator : "And 
whereas * * * j ii^ve Expended and Laid out for a house at 
Black Rock (when mr West the Carpentare is paid what is due to 
him for his worke ther) for my son Thomas Twoe hundred Pound 
and also Ten Pound more for New England plank. * * * xud 
whereas also I have been out and expended upon a house for my 
son Cullen on the South Shore (when mr West the Carpentare is 
paid for what worke he hath done ther (to wit) the covering of the 
house doeing the Dormant Windoes and makeing upe the Gavell end 
of the Sd House and when Cullen hath what Glass is in the House 
that will answer his purposes and what nailes he shall have occa- 
sion for said House * * * In my accounting above in this co- 
dicill concerning Cullens House standing in Three Hundred Pound 
I made a mistake in not mentioning that mr Coke the Bricklayer 
wages for making Laying the Bricks in the chimneys Sellar Uuder- 
pining and doeing all the other worke agreed for is part of the Three 
hundred Pound and is to be paid out of my personall estate. Also 
he is to have what lands are necessary for him for burning the 
Bricks or what other worke he hath occasion for to finish the worke 
he hath agreed for wherefore my will is that the Bricklayer aforesd 
be paid out of my personall estate befor Shared." 

JOHN PIECLEFIELD'S INVENTORY. 
1721 

* * * One Silver Tankard Weighing 1 :1b, 1 :Z 15 :pw 16 :gr 
Eight Good Spoons Two Dram Cups one little Spoon One do broke 
One do large melted a Seal 9Z 3pw Total of the weight 1 lb lOZ 
18p wl6gr One Silver Hilted Sword one pair of Buckles not weighed 
four Diamond Rings two plain do. * * * 

FREDERICK JONES 1722. 

Chowan Precinct. * * * "j Give devise and bequeath unto my 
Eldest daughter Jane My Indian Girle named Nanny My Negro 
Woman named Dinah, together with her three Children and all the 
increase that shall be borne of any of them Her Mothers Diamond 
wedding ring and large pair of Diamond ear rings. Gold Watch with 
the Chain, Seal & other things fixed thereto ; her Mothers Wearing 



50 XoTKs ox Colonial Xoirnr C.viiOT.TXA 1700-1750. 

Appnrell such as is already made up & such things as was designed 
for her but not made up, All her Mothers Child bede Linnen with 
white silk Damask Gown, All the China Ware and Tea furniture 
with the Dressing table and furniture. Also a Dozen of my finest 
Damask Napkins and Table Clothe a Dozen of fine Diaper Napkins 
& Table Clothe, One pair of my finest Holland sheets with Pillow 
Cases: and one other pair of Holland Sheets with Pillow Cases. 
Item I give devise and bequeath unto my Daughter Martha Four 
young negroes, two male and two female, not under ten years of 
age to be set apart from the rest of my Estate for the use of my 
said daughter together with the increase thereof; Also the smaller 
pair of Diamond Ear-rings, One Diamond Ring, her Mothers Gold 
Shoe Buckles thimble & Bodkin one Dozen of my finest damask 
Napkins and table clothe, one Dozen of fine Diaper Napkins & Table 
Clothe One pair of my finest holland Sheets & pillow Cases and one 
other pair of holland sheets with Pillow cases ; Also the Sum of 
one hundred and fifty pounds Boston Money. Item I give devise 
and bequeath unto my daughter Rebeckah four young negroes two 
male «& two female, not under ten years of Age to be set apart from 
the rest of my estate for the use of my said daughter together with 
the increase thereof, One Diamond Ring, One Dozen fine Damask 
Napkins and Table Clothe, One Dozen fine Diaper Napkins and 
Table Clothe, Two pair of fine holland Sheets and pillow cases. 
Also the Sum of Two hundred pounds Boston Money. * * * 
Item I give devise and bequeath unto my Eldest Son William Hard- 
ing Jones, all my land on the South side of Moratoke River being 
part of a large tract of nine Thousand one hundred acres by me 
taken iip. Also all my lands in Hyde precinct. * * * item I 
Give devise and bequeath unto my Son Frederick Jones all my Lands 
in Craven precinct. * * * Item I Give Devise and bequeath 
unto my Son Thomas Jones all my Lands at or near Meherrin 
Creek in Chowan precinct. Also those Lands belonging to me on the 
North Side Moratoke River. * * * item I give unto each of my 
Sons one Diamond Ring; Item I Give unto my three Sons to be 
equally divided among them all my I^ibrary of Books ; Eycept those 
books commonly used by my wife, which I have ordered to be put 
into her closets which books I give unto my Daughter Jane. * * * 
Lands lying in King William County in Virginia commonly called 
Horns Quarter. * * * Item I Give unto my Loveing brother Ten 
pounds Sterling to buy a Suit of i[ourning. * * * A Codicil to 
be annexed to the Will of Frederick Jones Esqr. I Give and be- 
queath unto my daughter Jane, My Wifes Side Saddle and furniture 
thereto belonging with the horse called Blaze. To my daughter 
Martha a Sett of Silver tea spoons double gilded. To my daughter 
Rel>eckah two pair of filigreen gold Shift buckles and all the gold 
rings and Ear-rings. * * * To my good friend and Neighbour 



Notes on Colonial jSTokth Carolina 1700-1750. 57 

Edward Moseley of Chowan precinct my pair of pistolls mounted 
with Silver caps etc. * * * ^yjj^j^ bridle Locks and stocked with 
English Walnut." 

EMANUEL LOW. 1726 Pasquotank precinct. "* * * 31y I 
give and bequeath unto my Grandson George Low Son of my be- 
loved Son Nevil Low Dd and now in the kingdom of Great Britain 
the Plantation where my Cousin Robinson now Lives & the I'lan- 
tation called New ABBey with four Hundred Acres of land adjoin- 
ing to it to * * * also my Seal Scutcheon of arms. * * * 
Lands commonly called the Town point Lying on the mouth of 
the North West side of Newbegun Creek & now in the possession 
of Jno Conner. It is my Will that my daughter Anna Letitia her 
heirs or assigns shall keep in possession all ye before mentioned 
Legacies wth Lands &c &c &c &c." 

WILLIAM HARDING JONES 1730. 

"of ye eastern Parish of Chowan * * * do give * * * 
Ann Jones my wife * * * One certain piece or parcel of Land 
containing four thousand Acres on Ronoak river in Bertie Precinct 
it being that Trackt of Land out of wch I have sold three hundred 
to Ellis Hodges of the same precinct I also give to her during her 
natural Life the house and plantation whereon I now live with all & 
singular the rights, hereditaments appertenances & appendants what- 
soever to the said piece or parcel of Land in anywise appertaining 
with all Cattle, hogs, horses, sheep belonging to the said plantation 
with one third part of the negroes I now possess, and also all my 
household goods belonging to the sd house Excepting the family 
pictures and Court of Arms. * * * likewise all my books in ye 
sd. house I give to my brothers Freddick and Thomas Jones 

* * * " 

JOHN BAPTISTA ASHE 1731. 

"of Bath County in the province of North Carolina Gent. * * * 
Item. I give devise and bequeath unto my Son Samuel and unto 
my daughter Mary my Lands up the north west branch of Cape 
Fear River called Ashwood which are situate lying and being on 
the South side of said river between the lands of John Porter of 
Virginia Mercht, and the Plantation whereon Daniel Donahoe lately 
deceased dwelt, Together with my other lands on the north Side of 
the River directly opposite to those aforementioned to be equally 

* * * Item, I give, devise and bequeath * * * land on 
Stumpy Sound called Turkey Point * * * other tract called 
Stump Island. Four hundred acres of land * * * on the Main 
Branch of Old town creek. Item I will that my slaves be kept to 
work on my lands that my Estate may be managed to the best ad- 
vantage so as my sons may have as liberal an education as the 



58 Notes on Colonial ISTorth Carolina 1700-1750. 

profits thereof will afford; and in their Education I pray my Exors 
to observe this method. Let them be taught to read and write and 
be introduced into the practical part of Arithmetick not too hastily 
hurrying them into Latin or Grammar but after they are pretty well 
versed in these let them be taught Latin »& Greek. I propose this 
may be done in Virginia ; After which let them learn French ; per- 
haps some Frenchman at Santee wile undertake this ; when they 
are arrived to years of discretion Let them study the Mathematicks. 
To my Sons when they arrive at age I i*ecommend the pursuit & 
Study of Some profession or business (I wish one to ye Law, the 
other to Merchandize) In which let them follow their own inclina- 
tions. Item I will that my daughter be taught to write and read 
& some feminine accomplishments which may render her agreeable ; 
And that she be not kept ignorant as to what appertains to a good 
house wife in the management of household affairs. Item I give to 
each of my Exors a Gold Ring a token of the respect which In my 
life I bore them Item I will that a Brick Vault may be built at 
Groveley and my Dear Wifes body taken up out of the Earth & 
brought and laid therein; and if it should be my fortune to die in 
Carolina so as my Corpse may be Conveyed thither I desire that 
one large Coffin may be made and both our body's laid together 
therein and lodged in the said Vault." 

THOMAS POLLOCK 1732. 

"of Bertie Precinct." Plantations called Black Rock, Great Quar- 
ter, Manuels or Crickits, Springfield, and lands lying on Salmon 
Creek & Chowan River, Trent River, Unaroye Meadows, "nigh of 
Tuskarora Indian Town," Moratuck River. Fishing Creek. Forty 
six negroes are bequeathed. "Item I will & Order & give by this 
will to all Such persons who are Setled on my lands at Trenton 
Condition of a Certain writng I give to Jacob Miller that those 
already settled there, have leases on ye same terms I promised 
them." 

JOSHUA PORTER 1733. 

Bath County. Plantations on Derhams Creek one known 
as Sand Hills. Negroes, Mustees and Indians are given to 
wife, and mourning rings to friends. "It is my further will and 
desire that my Son and Daughter may be Carefully learnt to read 
& write & Cypher & yt they be duly Educated * * * ." 

RICHARD SANDERSON. 17.33. 

Perquimans precinct. "Ye island of Ocreecock," land on the Sandy 
Bank "by the name of Point Lookout"; "Manner Plantation." One 
hundred and forty seven acres of land in Perquimans; lots in 
Roanoak Town devised to son Richard. The brigantine "Sea 



XoTEs ON Colonial Xortii Carolina 1700-1750. 59 

Flower" and sloop "Swallow" are given to son and son in law. 
Thirteen negro and one Indian slave bequeathed. 

FRANCIS PUGH. 1733 

Bertie precinct. Provides for "bringing up my children at School 
Plantation at Emperor's Fields bought of Christian Hitteburch. 
"Whereas, * * * j jj^^yg begun to build a brigantlne which is 
now in the Stocks in Bertie precinct * * * flnish and Compleat 
the said Brigantlne with Anchors Masts Cables Sails &c." 

"Item it is my will and pleasure that after the said Vessel is 
finished my executors & my Trustees herein named do * * * 
purchase a Loading of Tobacco black Wallnut or other merchandise 
fitt for the British market and that they do send the said Vessel to 
great Britain from thence to return to No. Carolina, * * * _" 

"Item It is my will and pleasure that after my Sloop Carolina 
returns from New England that my Executors & Trustee do * * * 
purchase a cargo and send the said Sloop to the West Indies 

"Item It is my will that my dear wife & Execrs do receive from 
Captn Grainger the Cai-go brought in a Schooner into this province 
which belongs to Mr. Coleman provided the said Grainger allows to 
my Execrs twelve pounds pr Barrel for good & well pickled pork 
vizt for so much as is produced from my own stock * * * " 

THOMAS SWANN 1733 

Pasquotank precinct. Two plantations are conveyed to sons Sam- 
uel and William with the provision that if either shall sell or con- 
vey his part "out of the name of ye Swanns" the other shall enter 
and take possession. Provision is made for "ye Christian education 
of my Children." Horse, bridle and saddle is given to each of two 

sons. 

EDWARD SALTER. 1734. 

Bath County. Plantation on Pamplico river "called in the patent 
Mount Calvert ; six hundred and forty acres of land on Bear creek. 
About twenty negro slaves bequeathed. To daughter Sarah is be- 
queathed forty three cattle and horses, one hundred pounds "of the 
said Province bills or their value" ; Madam Sarah Porter is men- 
tioned as having care and tuition of daughter. To three children is 
given "my largest periauger with anchors and sails." "Item I be- 
queath unto my son in law John Harvey Ten pounds in order to 
purchase him a good Beaver Hat and a pair of gloves. * * * 
Item I bequeath unto my beloved son Edward Salter my best Saddle 
and bridle and one pair of Silver Spurs and Richard Bloom's his- 
tory of the Holy Bible together with all the books that I shall own 
at my Death (be they Divinity, History or Mathematical) * * * 
also my large China Punch Bowl. * * * My will is that my 



GO XoTEs ON Colonial ISTokth Caeolina 1700-1750. 

Brigantine now on the stocks at John Smiths be got finished and 
made fit for " the Sea as soon as may be * * * be loaden with 
tar * * * (for Boston). * * * My will further is that my 
Executors may wi'ite two or three ways * * * ^q Collo. Jacob 
Windall and Company to Insure the sum of Twelve Hundred pounds 
(Boston Money) upon the said Brigantine * * * _" Money 
arising from the sale of the brigantine to be "remitted in youngeable 
slaves (none to exceed the age of twenty years)." Provision is 
made for education of children and for Edwai'd "a thorough educa- 
tion to make him a compleat merchant." 

EDWARD BRYAN. 1745. 

To sons John, Edward & William is given land purchased of 
Martin Frank called "New Germany"; lots (3) in Newbern town 
with a store house on one of them ; plantation on the west side of 
Swifts Creek called Paradice. Sixteen negro slaves bequeathed. 
Lai'ge number of cattle and horses bequeathed — five riding horses. 
Provision is made for Seven years schooling for children the school- 
ing to be given them at some time between the ages of seven and 
seventeen years. 

EDWARD MOSELEY. 1745. 

New Hanover County. Plantation at Rockey Point containing 
3500 acres; Plantation in Chowan County containing 2000 acres; 
plantation on the North East branch of Cape Fear River containing 
3500 acres lying between Holly Shelter Creek and the "bald white 
Sand hills" ; plantation opposite Rockey Point plantation containing 
1650 acres ; 12S0 acres at Rockfish Creek ; 600 acres on the East Side 
of the North West branch of Cape Fear River; lot and houses in 
Brunswick; plantation below Brunswick called Macknights; lot & 
house in Wilmington ; 600 acres of land opposite Cabbage Inlet ; 
500 acres in Tyrrell called Coopers; 4.50 acres in Tyrrell called 
Whitemarsh; lands on East side Cape Fear River; plantation at the 
Sound where "there is a large vineyard Planted ; 3200 acres in 
Edgecombe called Alden of the hill ; 1650 acres on West side of Neuse 
River "about twenty four miles above New Bern town ; 10,000 acres 
in Edgecombe County called Clur ; aggregating about 35,000 acres. 
88 slaves bequeathed. "Item I give and bequeath to my Loving 
wife Anne my New Chaise Harness and the Pair of Bay horses 
Smoker and Toby. * * * j r,igQ gjyg unto her out of my stocks 
ten cows & ten calves ten steers of Different ages & Twenty sheep 
and the horse Spark. 

* * * It is my will that the slaves usually kept about the 
house shall be kept in the same employment for my Wifes easier 
life and care of my children untill she marries. * * * Item. I 
give unto my six children all my Stock of horses Mares neat cattle 
sheep and swine to run & increase for ther benefit and I will that 



ISToTEs ON Colonial IvTortii Carolina 1700-1750. 61 

proper slaves be appointed for managing thereof of whicli increase 
& px'ofit made thereby of such as are necessary to be sold or killed 
at proper seasons Accot to be rendered to the County Court for my 
children advantage without charges deducting first thereout what 
may be necessary for such kind of provision for housekeeping for 
my said wife and children. Item It is my will that the profits 
arising from the labour of my two sons slaves & their part of the 
profits arising by the stocks be laid out in purchasing young female 
slaves to be added to their stocks of slaves. * * * item. When 
it shall be necessary to give all or any of my sons other Education 
than is to be had from the Common Masters in this Province for I 
would have my children well educated it is then my will &e &c &c. 
Item. I recommend it to my dear and loving wife that one of my 
sons as shall be Thought best qualified for it be bred to the Law it 
being highly necessary in so large a Family and to him I give all 
my Law books being upwards of 200 Volumes. * * * Item. I 
give to my dear wife Blomes History of the Bible in folio, three 
volumes in folio of Archbishop Tillotsons works, four Volumes in 
Octavo of Dr. Stanhopes on the Epistles & Gospels and all the books 
of Physick. Item I give to my daughter Ann Humfries 3 volumes 
in folio on the Old & New Testament and I will that my Exors buy 
for her the work of the author of the Whole Duty of Man I give to 
the eldest of my sons that shall not study the law Chambers Dic- 
tionary two Volumes in folio Locks Works three volumes in folio 
Millers Dictionary two volumes in folio and LeBlond on Gardening 
in Quarto : and the rest of my books about 150 volumes. * * * 
Item I give * * * my large Silver Tea Kettle, Lamp & Server 
for it to stand on weighing in all about 170 ounces * * * my 
Large Silver Coft'ee Pot * * * my Large Silver Tea Pot * * * 
my Large Silver Tankard * * * a pair of large Square Silver 
Servers, my cases of knifes, forks, spoons. Salts, Casters & Other 
my Plate to be * * * 

OULLEN POLLOCK. 1719. 

Tyrrell County Gen. Plantation at Matchapungo River in Hide 
County, lott of land in Bath town ; 710 acres of land on a branch 
of Trent River called "the halfe way House" ; 1280 acres lying on 
Coneto Creek in Tyrrell County called the "deaded Woods" ; 640 
acres in Bertie County on "ye Roonaroy IMeadows" ; 4700 acres in 
Bertie County ; aggregating about 8000 acres. 78 negroes. "Item 
It is my will and desire that my three daughters have as good Edu- 
cation as can be had in this Province & that my two sons when they 
have got what learning they can have in this province that they be 
sent to Boston for further education * * * _" 



02 XoTEs o^^ CoLOK^iAL XoKTH Cakolixa 1700-1750. 

ROGER MOORE 1750. 

New Hanover County, Parish of St. Phillips, 1750. Plantations 
called Kendall, Maultby's Point, Mount Misery; Orton Lands lying 
on Island opposite Black River. 2500 acres where Mill stands, 640 
acres at Rockey Point, 55.000 acres in the Neck known as Mount 
Misery, 3025 acres in Saxpahaw Old Fields, 5000 acres near Eno Old 
Fields, and 20,000 acres mentioned in latter part of will, aggregating 
about 100,000 acres ; 250 slaves mentioned. To each of daughters 
is bequeathed eighteen hundred pounds. Testator mentions saw mill 
"I entend to build on Brice's Creek." 

"It is my will that each of my daughters Mary and Anne doe at 
their marriage take each their choyce of any One of the House 
slaves, except the Negro wench Bess who I leave to her liberty to 
make choyce of any one of my children for her Master or Mistress." 

GABRIEL JOHNSTON 1751. 

Plantations called Possum Quarter, Conahoe ; 1000 acres on Cy- 
press Creek, 980 acres on South side of Trent, 400 acres on the head 
of Trent and New Rivers, 7000 acres on Deep River in Bladen Co., 
"all the small islands lying in Roanoke River and in the neighbour- 
hood of Mount Gallard, land on Salmon Creek in Bertie County." 
* * * my said Wife shall have the use of all my said Daughters 
plantations and for her Encouragement to Cultivate & Improve 
these Plantations especially in Raising Silk. * * * And I earn- 
estly request my Dearest wife to be a kind tender mother to my Dear 
little girl and to bring her up in the Fear of God and under a deep 
sense of her being always in his presence, and in Sobriety and moder- 
ation Confining her Desires to things plain and neat and Elegant 
and not aspiring after the Gayety Splendor and Extravagances and 
especially to take Care to keep within the bounds of her income and 
by no Means to Run in Debt. * * * It I give and bequeath to 
Henry .lohnston now at school in Newhaven in the Colony of Con- 
necticut. * * * ]\jy Books I leave to William Cathcart Esqr. 
after my Wife and Brother have choose out them any Number not 
Exceeding forty each. It To my sister Elizabeth Smear of the 
County of Fife North Britain my large Repeating Gold Watch after 
it h;is l)een put in order at the Expence of my estate." 

JOHN BLOUNT 1753. 

Chowan County. One plantation. " * * * i give and be- 
queath * * * Three negroes, viz ; Sharper, Finn & Tom, with all 
my brewing kettles, tubs and Fxts and all my brewing works and 
my writing Desk * * * My desii-e is that my Chaise, Boat, 
Blacksmith's tools, watch and other tools or anything else that is 
likely to perish be sold * * * Item. I give and bequeath to my 
brother Charles Blount my best Broad Cloth Suit of Clothes my 



N"oTEs OK CoLo^N^iAL XoETH Caeolina lTOO-1750. 63 

best Beaver Hatt & Wigg. My will is that noue of the timber should 
be cut or Sold excepting for the use of the plantation and that no 
Stranger shall be admitted to live on any part of the Back Land 
to destroy the Timber, and that no Person shall on any consideration 
whatsoever be admitted to live on any part of my Land Excepting 
an Overseer. * * * that no other negroes shall be permitted 
to work on my plantation excepting they are the property of my 
wife and children. 

And my will is that all the money that shall arise out of my 
Estate * * * should be laid out to purchase likely young ne- 
groes at the Discretion of my Executors for the use and Benefit of 
my children." Provision is made for the education of the children 
in "a Christian like manner." 

SAMUEL SWANN 1753. 

Perquimans County. 450 acres of land "where I now dwell" and 
"Allegator land." "I give to my Daughter Mary Claton my pickle 
case and Bottles. Item I do hereby give to my brother John Vail 
my Silver Seal and Stock Buckle." 

JAMES INNES. 1754. 

"In the name of God, Amen. I James Innes of Cape Fear in 
North Carolina in America Coll of the Regiment of sd. Province 
Raised for His Majesty's imiuediate service and Commander in 
Chief of this Expedition to the Ohio against the French & there 
Indians whoe have most unjustly Invaided & fortified themselves 
on His Majesty's lands — Being now readdey to Enter upon Action 
* * * I recomend the paying of all my Just and Lawfull Debts 
instantly, or when demanded. I direct a remittance may be made 
to Edinburgh, Sufficient to pay for a Church Bell for the Parish 
Church of Cannesby, in Caithness agreeable to my Letter to mr. 
Jams Broadee Minister there. 

I also appoint and direct that there may be a furder remittance 
made of One hundred Pounds Sterll : for the use of the Poor of said 
Parish of Cannesby & the said Summ of One hundred Pounds to 
be put at interest for the use of the poor of Said Parish as foi-merly 
directed by me. 

I also give and bequeath att the Death of my Loving Wife Jean 
Innes my Plantation called Point Pleasant & the Opposite Mash 
Land over the River for which there is a Separate Patent, Two 
negro young Women, One Negroe Young man and there Increase 
all the Stock of Cattle and Hogs, halfe the Stock of Horses belonging 
att the time to that Plantation With all my Books & One hundred 
Pounds Sterling or the Equivalent thereunto in the currency of the 
Country For the use of a Free School for the Benefite of the Youth 



64 ]S'oTES ON Colonial ISTokth Carolina 1700-1750. 

of North Carolina. And to see that this part of my will is dewly 
executed att the time, I appoint the Colonell of the New Hanover 
Regiment, the Parson of Willmington Church & the Vestrey for the 
time being, or the majority of them as they Shall from time to time 
be Choised or Appointed." 

SARAH ALLEN, 1761. 

Legacies: "Wedding ring to Niece ("as a particular mark of my 
affection and a memento of my Conjugal happiness, not doubting hers 
is equal and may it be as lasting." Gold watch, gold chain mourning 
ring. Silver chased tea kettle, cream pot, lamp. "Walnut tree 
Sneered Tea chest containing three pieces of plate chased as the 
tea kettle" ; Silver waiters, dozen tea spoons and strainer in black 
Shagreen case ; Silver Sauce pan, mahogany dressing table, gilt 
smelling bottle ; "books of modern taste." 

ELIZABETH SCOLLAY 17GG. 

Bertie County. " * * * j Give and Devise unto my son 
Ouleln Pollock all my Books, also a mouning ring." Several ne- 
groes are bequeathed to different relatives. " * * * I give and 
devise * * * my still with the appurtenances * * * ." 

WILLIAM HERRITAGE. 1769. 

Craven County. Plantations called Springfield, Jemmys Neck, 
Harrow, Atkins Banks, Fort Barnwell ; lands in Johnson County, lots 
Nos. 21, 22, 191 and 84 in the town of Newbern. About seventy 
five negro slaves bequeathed the names of some of which are as 
follows : Pompey, Venus, Phillis, Balaam, Ca'sar, London, Big Rose, 
Big Bess, Mercury, Tortola, Cado, Tamer, Judy, Jupiter, Sabina, 
Peter ("a cooper"). 

Raleigh, N. C, September 1, 1905. 



INDEX. 



PAGE. 

Allen, Sarah 04 

Aceoiieechy — town 17 

Albeniavle 7 

Alteration of l)ran(l — penalty 34 

Arclidale i)recinet 10 

Ashes 21 , 35 

Ashe, John Baptista 22, 51 

Asseml)ly — Qualification of members 43 

Baehe, Prof 38 

Bancroft — On motives for settlement of Colony 7 

Connnents on State by 6 

Barbadian settlers 15 

Barlowe 13 

Bath — Port of entry 38 

Chosen as capitiil 38 

Bath county — Extent of 10 

Seat of Tuscarora War 10 

Beaufort county 10 

Blount, John 02 

Tom and James 17 

Blounts 21 

Bottom lands 21 

Bounties 23, 50 

Boyd, Adam 10 

Brands or Marks — Penalty for alteration 34 

Brick 2() 

Brickell 20, 40, 48 

Brunswick 25 

Bryan, Edward 00 

Bryans 21 

Burial — customs (note) 42 

Burial places 42 

Burrinstou, (Jovernor S, 10, 21, 28, .33, .34. 38. .39, 44 

Byrd. Wm 9, 24 

Cape Fear Mercury estal)lished 10 

Beginnin.i? of settlements on 18 

Cape Fear country : Home's ccmnnent on 13 

Capital— established 52 

Carolina — Limits under second charter 12 

Cattle and Hogs— Exports of 34 

Jlarks and l)rands ,34 

Chalmers, George— Obstructs search for pai)ers (5, 8 

Saunders' connnents on 5 

(-heeweo — fort 1<> 

Chocowinity K! 

('howans 17 

(^hurch — established 41 

Climate : Emmons' connneut on 12 

Commodities — rate of 2!) 

Conneghta — fort IT 

(Conscience — freedom of 11 

Convicts sold as servjints 32 

Cotton — exports of 48 



66 Index 

PAGE. 

Counties — created 52 

Court Houses — Speoifieations for 51 

Court Houses and Precincts 51 

Courts 52 

Craven county 16 

Currency 29 

Culture — evidence of 20 

Davis, James — establishes first newspaper 9 

(ieor.se, J., and Jno 35 

Direct trade opened 52 

Dissenters 41 

Dobbs, Governor 45 

Early settlers 15 

Eastern North Carolina — climate and soil 12 

Education 20. 40 

Education of orphans 40 

Emi.sJ'ation of Tuscaroras IT 

Enuiions. Dr. — comment on climate 12 

English settlers 15 

Entry — ports 38 

p]xports and imports 23. 52 

Forts — Conneglita 17 

Cheeweo 10 

Indian near Bear Creek 10 

Nakay l(i 

Tahunta 17 

Hookerooka 17 

Totero 17 

Resootska IC. 

Forster, Robert 21 

Franks, Martin . 21. 22 

Gales • 21 

Gale. Christopher 22 

French (Huguenot) settlers 15 

German (I'alatine) settlers 15 

Glenn, R. B.. Governor 9 

J. I).. General 9 

Green. Bartholomew 10 

Griffith. Edward 52 

Grimesland Plantation 10, 40 

Hancock's town 17 

Heccletield Jolm — Inventory 55 

Herritages 21 

Herritase, William 04 

Hogs and Cattle — marks and brands 34 

Exports of 34 

Hogs — Breeding of 34 

Home, Robert — Conunent on Cajte Fear country 13 

Horses — breeding of 34 

Houses — si)ecifications for 22, 25 

Still standing 20 

Of i)lanters 20 

Hyde Precinct !<> 

Hyrne, Edward 35 

Immigration 19, 52 

From Scotland 10 

Indentured Servants 32 

Imports and Exports 



r.o 



Index. 67 

PAGE. 

Inlets 38 

Independence — motive for settlement of colony 7 

Indians — rewards for ID 

Tribute 17 

Indian Chiefs Ig 

Indian Wars 18, 10 

Indian captives 18, 19 

Indian towns 17 

Indian slaves 18 

Indian Kings 17 

Indian fort on Bear Creek 10 

Innes, James 9, G3 

Interests — rate of 30 

Inventories and Wills, as material for history 11 

Iron Mills, forbidden 50 

Johnstons 21 

Johnston, Gabriel 8, (B 

Johnston, Town 25 

Jones, Frederick 21 

Thomas 35 

Wm. Harding 57 

Kelley, W. D. — Comment on North Carolina 13 

King Blount's town 17 

Keeouwee — town 17 

Labor — demand for 28 

Lands — Rules for entering 22 

Landholders— large 21, 35 

Intiuence of 19, 20 

Laws — Revision and printing 52 

Lawson — Account of second settlement 14 

Lillingtons 35 

Lists of taxables 52 

Lovick, John 21, 31 

;\Ianor Houses 28 

Manufactures 48, 49 

Marriages 41, 42 

Maules 21 

William 21 

Dr. Patrick 21 

Mills 50 

Encouragement of 50 

Militia regulated 52 

Moores 21, 35, 35 

Roger 21, 31, G2 

Maurice 21 

Moselevs 21, 35 

Moseley, Edward 21. 31, t!0 

Newbern 24 

Nakay— fort K! 

New England settlers It) 

Newton 25 

Newsi)aper controversy 10 

Newspaper — their establisher 10 

Second in colony 10 

North Carolina Magazine and I'niversal Intelligencer estali- 

lished 

North Carolina : Limit aftin- separation from S. C 12 

Limit under consideration 12 



68 Index. 

PAGK. 

N. C. Gazette and Weekly Post-Boy established 10 

Ordinaries and Tipplinj; houses 41' 

Oci'aeoke — port of entry ;W 

Orphans — education of 40 

Overseers 22 

Wages of , 22 

Packet Boats 45, 4t) 

Panipticough I'recinct K! 

Parks, William 10 

Phillips, Eleazer 10 

Phmtations — Manufactures on 4S 

Self-sustaining 47 

Planters — wealth in slaves 2S 

Pollocks 21 

I'olloek, Tnllen 22. .",1. 01 

Thomas 22. 24. r)4. HS 

Population — growth of IS 

In 1700 K; 

In 1715, 1730, 17r>s is 

Porters 21, 35 

Porter. John IC. 22. 31. 35 

Joshua oS 

Ports— lack of 3(> 

Ports of entry 38 

Postal service 44 

Post-office and branches 45 

Postal rates (notes) 45 

Post routes 45. 40 

Precincts and Court Houses 51 

Printing 0. 10 

Proclamation money .'to 

Public Schools — appropriation fir 52 

Pugh Francis 50 

Quakers — disciualification of 41 

Reading, Lionel 54 

Religion 40. 41 

Resootska 1 < ! 

Roads 43 

Road system 41 

Salter. Edward 5') 

Sanderson, Ricliard 5X 

Saunders, W. L. — Comments on Chalmers 5 

Scottish immigration 1<i 

Second settlement — I^awson's ;!ccount of 14 

Self-rule — Colonv relinquished t') 

Schools 40. 52 

Scliollay, Elizal)eth 04 

Servants — Indentured -'2 

Slaves— tithable 32' 

Execution of 31 

Disposition of "n 

Families kept together •"'l 

Owners — large ••! 

Names of 32 

Indian 1'^ 

Silk — exports of 40 

Culture -t"> 

Cxrass ( note) ■+•• 



Index. 69 

PAGE. 

Social life ■ 21, 47 

Sothel C. 7, 21 

Speculation— In land forlMfldon 22 

Stephenson, William 22 

Stewart, Andrew — established second newspaper 10 

Starkey, John 52 

Stock— breeding 20, 3,3 

Diseases of 33 

Mismarking — penalty for 34 

Swanns 21, 85 

Swann, Samuel <;■; 

Thomas 5!) 

Snpponees 17 

Tahunta — fort 17 

Tar, etc 2 5 

Taxables — Provision for listing 52 

Timothy's Southern Gazette 10 

Tippling — Houses and Ordinaries 42 

Tobacco 23 

Over production Md 

Restrictions on exjiort 37 

Tookerooka — fort 17 

Totero— fort IT 

Towns — Acconeechy 17 

Hancocks 17 

Keeouwee 17 

Ucolmerunt (King IMwunf s ) 17 

Uharee 17 

Trade, direct opened 52 

Tryon 30. l(i, 47 

Tuscarora War — Population at Iieginninix 1(> 

Effects of 17 

Seat of If) 

Tuscaroras — Emigration 17 

Reservation 17 

Ucolmerunt — King l>lount' s town IT 

Uharee — town 17 

Universal Intelligencer and N. ('. Mi!g;izine estaidishcd V) 

I'sury — Penalty for , •"'<' 

Ve.ssels — trading •'5 

Vails 21 

Vail. Jeremiah 5:; 

Voters — Qualification for 25, 43 

Wars — Tuscaroras l'> 

Waterways 3r. 

Wickham Precinct 1*' 

Whitemarsh, Thomas 10 

Williamson — Interference of riialmers witii <> 

Wills— Extracts from 54-i;4 

Wills and Inventories — as material f'li- history 11 

Wimble 37 

Winslow '■•* 



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